Linguistics 220
Syntax: Lexical and phrasal categories
John Alderete
Simon Fraser University
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Foundations in Syntax
Outline:
• See Introduction: English tag questions
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>Lexical and phrasal categories
The Lexicon and Phrase Structure Rules
Subcategorization and form classes
Transformations
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Categories and phrases: some intuitions
Observation: in addition to sentences, we have intuitions about certain classes of words and groupings of words.
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Today is [aDet splendidAdj dayN].
The rebel parties [mustAux unifyVerb].
* Today is [aDet splendidAdj].
*The rebel parties [mustAux unificationNoun]
Objective: use categories and phrases to characterize these intuitions about word groupings.
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Syntactic categories: clusters of properties
Assumption: every language has a set of words that behave in similar ways, i.e., they have a cluster of properties. The five most common syntactic categories (‘parts of speech’) are: nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and adverbs.
Cluster of properties for nouns:
• Distribution: fit into specific sentential contexts, e.g., nouns in [DET ___]
• Affix combination: the ability of certain affixes can diagnose a word class, e.g., plural /-­‐z/ only attaches to nouns
• Meaning (weak diagnostic): members of the same word class tend to have similar meanings, e.g., nouns name entities (but what about nothingness?)
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Lexical categories: some examples
A list of lexical categories
• Noun (N): boy, wheat, policy, moisture, bravery
• Verb (V): arrive, discuss, melt, remain, dislike
• Adjective (A): good, tall, intelligent, fond
• Preposition (P): to, in, near, at, by
• Adverb (Adv): silently, slowly, quickly, now
Important: classification of a word is an empirical issue, and depends on its specific context
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Lexical categories: verbs vs. nouns
Properties of verbs:
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Can be marked for tense, person, and number
Can receive /-­‐ing/ suffix
Can appear in frame: [Aux ___ ] (Aux = a ‘helping verb’)
Can appear in frame: [Please ___ ]
Properties of nouns:
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b.
Can be pluralized by adding /-­‐z/ Can occur in frame: [Det (Adjective) ___]
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Lexical categories: an exercise
Examples:
1. You must use a good hammer for this job.
2. You must hammer the joists like so.
3. Jake is hammering the floor joists now.
4. Several hammers went missing yesterday.
Question: is hammer a noun or verb in the above sentences?
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Non-­‐lexical categories
Observation: there are other syntactic categories that tend to have more abstract grammatical meanings and have fewer members. These are called non-­‐
lexical syntactic categories. (Sometimes ‘functional categories’.)
Determiners (Det): the, a, this, these, several
Degree word (Deg): too, so, very, more, quite
Qualifier (Qual): always, perhaps, often, never
Auxiliary (Aux): will, can, must, have (past perfect), be
(progressive)
Conjunction (Conj): and, or, but
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More syntactic intuitions: phrases
Observation: we also have intuitions about natural groupings of words in a sentence, or phrases. Syntactic phrases have a canonical structure and can undergo certain operations.
Noun phrases: [(Det) (Adjective) Noun ]
NPs: the wise professor, fancy restaurants, rain
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Many executives eat at [fancy restaurants]NP.
[Fancy restaurants] NP many executives eat at.
* [At fancy] many executives eat restaurants.
Objective: use phrasal categories to account for the natural groupings
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Phrasal categories: the internal structure
Phrasal categories: a group of words that have a canonical structure and form a constituent.
• Head: the word the phrase is built around, gives the phrase its name and usually contributes the principal meaning of the phrase, e.g., [the persistant gardener]NP
• Specifier: word or phrase that marks a boundary for the phrase (left in English); typically functions to further refine the meaning of phrase, e.g., [this apple] NP
• Complement: phrases that follow the head (in English) and typically provide further information about the entities or location implied by head, e.g., [eat a peach]VP
N.b.: we will not actively use the X’ template discussed in the textbook – see the next lecture for alternative.
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Phrasal category blueprints (prelim.)
Noun Phrase
Verb Phrase
NP
(Det) (A) N
Adjective Phrase
VP
AP
(Qual) V (NP)
(Deg) A (PP)
Prepositional Phrase
PP
(Deg) P (NP)
Convention: ‘()’ indicates optional elements;; lack of ‘()’ means that the unit is obligatory (=head).
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The X’-­‐‑bar template: save it for later
• Textbook approach: uses the X’-­‐bar template to organize specifiers and complements, where the head and complement form a constituent X’ that excludes the specifier.
• Example: [ always [ eatHead [ your beans ]Complement ]V’ ]VP
• Our approach: the X’-­‐bar approach is interesting, but not directly motivated by much of the data we’ll encounter. So, to simplify, we will use the more straightforward rules developed in the Class Grammar (see website). In essence, they are the same, without the X’ unit. • Task: draw trees for the VP above on both assumptions. Problem: how determine constituents?
Question: given that all phrases come together to form a larger sentence, and many possible larger phrases are possible, how to we know how to group words into phrases?
Approach: determine the groupings through empirical investigation, using the ‘constituency tests’.
Example:
Many executives eat at really fancy restaurants
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Tests for constituency I: Ability to stand alone (ASA)
ØIf a group of words can be used as an exclamation or response to a question, it is a constituent.
Example:
Many executives [eat at really fancy restaurants].
Question: What do many executives do?
Eat at fancy restaurants.
*At really fancy
Conclusion: [eat at fancy restaurants] is a constituent, but [at really fancy] is not; since multiple words, constituent is a phrase too.
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Tests for constituency II: Substitution for Pro-­‐form (SPF)
ØIf a group of words can be substituted for a single word without changing the meaning of the sentence, it is a constituent.
Example:
[Our students] frequently ask good questions.
They frequently ask good questions.
* Our they ask good questions.
Conclusion: [Our students] is a phrase, but [students frequently] is not.
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Tests for constituency III: Movement (MV)
ØIf a group of words can be moved around in a sentence, and still passes, it is a constituent.
Example:
We are going down a slippery slope.
Down a slippery slope, we are going down.
*Down a, we are going slippery slope.
Conclusion: [down a slippery slope] is a constituent, but [down a] is not.
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Qualification I: test results are relative to specific examples
Example:
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Pat and Leslie raised llamas
Robin raised Pat and Leslie adopted Chris.
Tests for 1:
ASA, Yes: Who raised llamas? Pat and Leslie
SPF, Yes: They raised llamas.
MV, Yes: They raised illamas, Pat and Leslie (did).
Conclusion: [Pat and Leslie] are a constituent.
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Qualification I, cont.
Testing 2: Robin raised [Pat and Leslie] adopted Chris.
Results:
ASA, No (meaning changes): Who raised and adopted Chris? Pat and Leslie. SPF, No: *Robin raised them adopted Chris.
MV, No: *Pat and Leslie, Robin raised adopted Chris.
Conclusion: [Pat and Leslie] is not a constituent in 2.
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Qualification II:
results not always consistent
Ex: Many executives [eat at really fancy restaurants].
Results:
ASA, Yes: What do many executives do? Eat at really fancy restaurants.
SPF, Yes: I don’t eat at really fancy restaurants, but many executives do.
MV, No (?): Eat at really fancy restaurants, many executives.
Conclusion: [eat at really fancy restaurants] is a constituent; English has independent restrictions on VP movement.
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Categories and phrases: take home messages
• Syntactic intuitions: we have intuitions about word classes and the grammatical and ungrammatical groupings of these word classes in a sentence
• Lexical and phrasal categories provide the mental data structures that characterize these intuitions
• Empirical investigations: groupings of words into phrases is a scientific matter, investigating by applying known tests; must use judgment however.
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