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6 Syntax

This document provides an overview of syntax and its key concepts. It discusses: 1) Syntax examines the structure and order of words in sentences. Grammaticality is based on conforming to syntactic rules, not meaning. 2) Generative grammar views syntax as a system of rules that generate grammatical sentences. Phrase structure rules define syntax trees, and transformational rules rearrange elements. 3) Structural ambiguity occurs when one sentence has multiple meanings depending on interpretation. Deep structures can clarify ambiguous sentences. 4) Phrase structure uses trees to represent constituents, the building blocks of sentences. Rules expand syntactic categories like noun phrases and verb phrases.

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MarkJohn Lavilla Cabanatan
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33 views

6 Syntax

This document provides an overview of syntax and its key concepts. It discusses: 1) Syntax examines the structure and order of words in sentences. Grammaticality is based on conforming to syntactic rules, not meaning. 2) Generative grammar views syntax as a system of rules that generate grammatical sentences. Phrase structure rules define syntax trees, and transformational rules rearrange elements. 3) Structural ambiguity occurs when one sentence has multiple meanings depending on interpretation. Deep structures can clarify ambiguous sentences. 4) Phrase structure uses trees to represent constituents, the building blocks of sentences. Rules expand syntactic categories like noun phrases and verb phrases.

Uploaded by

MarkJohn Lavilla Cabanatan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SYNTA

X
Structure of English: Lesson 4
Topic Outline:
I. Introduction to Syntax
II. Generative Grammar
III. Structural Ambiguity
IV. Phrase Structure and Rules
V. Transformations
I. Syntax
■ Part of grammar that represents a speaker’s knowledge of
sentences and their structure (word order)
■ The meaning of the sentence depends largely on the order
in which words are arranged
– She has what a man wants.
– She wants what a man has.
■ Sometimes, change in word order doesn’t affect the
meaning.
– The Chief Justice swore in the new President.
– The Chief Justice swore the new President in.
I. Syntax
■ In language, every sentence is a sequence of words
but not every sequence of words is a sentence.
– Chief swore President the Justice the in new
■ Sequences that conform to the rules of syntax are
well-formed or grammatical. Those that do not
are ill-formed or ungrammatical.
I. Syntax
■ Are these grammatical?
– Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
– Enormous cricket in pink socks danced at the
prom.
– A verb crumpled the milk.
■ What, then, is grammaticality NOT based on?
■ Grammar is autonomous and independent of
meaning (semantics).
II. Generative Grammar
■ Regards grammar as a system of rules that generates
exactly those combinations of words that form
grammatical sentences in a given language (Chomsky)
■ Phrase Structure Rules: generate deep structure
which is the abstract level in which meaning resides
■ Transformational Rules: rearrange, add, and delete
elements but doesn’t change meaning but only
generate varied types of surface structure which is
the concrete realization of the deep structure
III. Structural Ambiguity
• When a sentence, in the surface, can have two meanings:
• Filipino history teacher
• This will make you smart.
• The chicken is ready to eat.
• Visiting relatives can be tiresome.
• Flying planes can be dangerous.
• They took the animal to the small animal hospital.
• Deep structures can clarify the meanings of these
sentences.
IV. Phrase Structure
• Constituents: natural groupings of a sentence;
proper subparts of a sentence; can be proved
through various linguistic tests
• Can be shown through a tree diagram
• Example:
• The child found the puppy.
• Phrase: sequence of words- or a single word-
having a syntactic significance
IV. Phrase Structure
• Constituency test: “The child put the puppy in the
garden.”
• Where did the child put the puppy?
• The child put the puppy there.
• In the garden is where the child put the puppy.
• It was in the garden that the child found the
puppy.
IV. Phrase Structure
• Phrase structure tree or constituent structure
tree: a tree diagram which syntactic category
information
• Syntactic Category: A family of expressions that
can substitute one another without loss of
grammaticality e.g. Sentence (S), Noun Phrase
(NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Adjective (Adj), Adjective
Phrase (AP), Determiner (Det), Adverb (Adv), etc.
IV. Phrase Structure
• A→B+C
• → read as, “is written as, is expanded as, has
its constituents, consists of”
• + read as, “followed by”
• A is rewritten as B followed by C.
• A → (B) C
• A is expanded as optionally B and obligatory C
IV. Phrase Structure
• A → {B, C}
• If you choose B, you cannot choose C.
• A → ({B,C}) D
IV. Phrase Structure
• Determiner
IV. Phrase Structure
• S → NP + VP
IV. Phrase Structure
• Adjective Phrase (AP)

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