Syntax by José Enoch Rivera Velásquez

Syntax

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The word “syntax” comes originally from Greek

and literally means “a putting together” or “arrangement.”

(Yule, G. 1947).

What is Syntax?

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Syntactic Rules

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The syntactic rules are essential for understanding a language, but there are cases in which we should pay attention, for example, we might write a preposition before a noun (near San Salvador), but if we take it as a rule can produce phrases like (near tree), (with dog), and these phrases are wrong. So, we can better write a preposition before a noun phrase, or combine an article with a noun. For example: (near London, near a tree, with the dog).

Deep and Surface Structure

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The structure of the sentences talking about the deep and surface structure, for example the sentences: Charlie broke the window, and The window was broken by Charlie. The first is called an active sentence, and the other one is called a passive sentence. So, the different syntactic forms that the sentences have in their surface structure, determine the distinction between them. On the other hand, the deep structure where the different components (Noun Phrase + Verb + Noun Phrase) can be the source of other surface structures, for example: It was Charlie who broke the

window and Was the window broken by Charlie?.

Syntactic Analysis

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In syntactic Analysis there are conventional abbreviations, some of them are: N (= noun), Art (= article), Adj (= adjective), V (= Verb). Also, there are abbreviations for phrases: NP (= noun phrase) and VP (= verb phrase).

Example: NP (Jonh), VP (V: saw, NP: the big dog).

Phrase Structure Rules

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The Phrase Structure Rules, specify the structure of a phrase is composed of one or more constituents arranged in a particular order. The first rule is: S (sentence) - NP (noun phrase) VP (verb phrase), the second one is: NP (noun phrase) - {Art (article) (Adj = adjective) N (noun), Pro (pronoun), PN= pronoun or proper noun}, and the third: VP (verb phrase) - V(verb) NP (noun phrase).

Lexical Rules

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Lexical Rules define which words are permissible for constituents generated by phrase structure rules. For example: grammatical sentence, You saw it. Ungrammatical sentence, *You it saw.

Diagrams

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The diagrams help us to represent the structures, how is shown in the image above, about a VP =verb phrase. In this way, it is represented in a hierarchical structure.

Study Questions

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1 What was the original literal meaning of syntax in Greek?

Means “a putting together” or “arrangement.”

2 What is wrong with the following rule of English syntactic structure? “A prepositional

phrase rewrites as a preposition followed by a noun.”

If we use this as a rule of the grammar to create structures involving a preposition and a noun, we will end up producing phrases like near tree or with dog.
These don’t seem to be well-formed English structures, so we mark them with an asterisk *, indicating that they are ungrammatical.

3 Which of the following expressions are structurally ambiguous and in what way?

(a) These are designed for small boys and girls.

(b) The parents of the bride and groom were waiting outside.

(d) We met an English history teacher.

(e) Flying planes can be dangerous.

(f) The students complained to everyone that they couldn’t understand.

All the sentences exhibit structural ambiguity, except sentence (c), which shows a lexical ambiguity, based in that the words "legs" and "feet" can have different meanings.

4 What part of speech is lovely in the following sentence?

We saw a lovely rainbow yesterday.

Adjective

5 How many noun phrases are there in the following sentence?

George saw a small dog in the park near the fountain and it followed him when he left the

park.

6 Which part of the following sentence is the VP?

None of the people in the building supported the proposed rent increase.

supported the proposed rent increase

7 Which of the following expressions would be generated by this phrase structure rule: NP

→ {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN}?

(a) a lady (c) her (e) the widow

(b) the little girl (d) Annie (f) she’s an old woman

All of them, except the (f), because it is a sentence, not a noun phrase.

8 What kind of generative rule is this: N → {girl, dog, boy}?

Lexical rule

9 Do phrase structure rules represent deep structure or surface structure?

Deep structure

Complete the following tree diagrams.
- (a) S - NP (Art = A - N = girl), VP (V = saw - NP = you),
- (b) S - NP (pro = Mary), VP (V = helped) NP (Art = the, Adj = small, N = boy).

Concept

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Syntax: the way in which linguistic elements (such as words) are put together to form constituents (such as phrases or clauses).

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Bibliography

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Yule, George. (1947). The Study of Language (Sixth edition), Cambridge University Press. www.cambridge.org.
Merriam Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/
Mometrix Academy, (2018, 4 de Diciembre). What is a Sytax?. [video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw62E9v9DnU