Linguistics Assignment 2 Page Finish In 20Hours

LING111 Week 4 Recap April 22 - April 26, 2019

- This week we further systematized our grammar. - We extended the idea of the argument/adjunct distinction -- and the technology of

subcategorization frames -- to all the major categories, including V, A, N and P. - A, like V, has:

- obligatory arguments: fond of cheese fond, V, [ ___ PP ] - optional arguments: loyal, loyal to the family loyal, V, [ ___ (PP) ]

- Examples with N: - fear of snakes fear, N, [ ___ PP ] - driver of the ambulance driver, N, [ ___ (PP) ]

- Argument / Adjunct Asymmetry Recap

Representation For a head X and a phrase YP: A phrase is a syntactic argument of X if that phrase is a sibling of X.

A phrase is a syntactic adjunct of X if it is (a) sibling to an XP; and (b) dominated by an XP.

GENERAL PATTERN SPECIFIC EXAMPLE

of sloops is the argument of N from Slovenia is an adjunct

The number of arguments a head may take is limited by its subcategorization frame. * A sailor of sloops of barques

The number of adjuncts in unlimited. A sailor of sloops from Slovenia with slicked back-hair at the wheel

XP

XP

X YP

ZP

ARGUMENT

ADJUNCT

NP

NP

D

a

N

sailor

PP

P

of

NP

N

sloops

PP

P

from

NP

N

Slovenia

Data diagnostics DISTRIBUTIONAL CLUES - If a post-head constituent is obligatory, then it is represented as a syntactic argument. - If a constituent is not obligatory, then it could be an adjunct OR an optional argument.

INTERPRETIVE CLUES - Syntactic arguments typically correspond to the core meaning components (semantic

arguments) which are required to describe the event or situation given by the head. (other than the subject) E.g., for pass, they are the thing passed, and the person or location something is passed to.

- Syntactic adjuncts of the VP refer to manner, time, place and rationale.

SYNTACTIC TESTS - For NPs, argument PPs prefer to be right next to the head:

- a sailor of sloops from Slovenia / * a sailor from Slovenia of sloops - a sailor at the wheel with slicked-back hair / a sailor with slicked-back hair at

the wheel - For VPs, post-head constituents can be more freely ordered, so patterns of PP

ordering are less informative. You can use the ‘do so’ test. If a VP phrase type can follow do so, then it is probably an adjunct.

- *John delivered [NP roses ] and Mary did so [NP hyacinths ]. - NP is not an adjunct.

- *John delivered roses [PP to Susan ] and Mary did so [PP to Brittany ]. - The PP referring to the recipient is not an adjunct.

- John delivered roses [PP in the morning ] and Mary did so [PP in the evening ] - The PP referring to the time of delivery is an adjunct.

GRAMMAR AS OF APRIL 26, 2019 


1. S → NP VP


MAJOR PHRASES 2. VP → V (NP) (AP) (PP) 


3. NP → { (DP) (AP)n N (PP) (CP) } { PRONOUN/NAME }


4. DP → { D } { NP POSS }


5. PP → P NP 


6. AP → (Deg) A (PP) 



 ADJUNCTION RULES

7. VP → VP PP 8. NP → NP PP


 COORDINATION SCHEMA

9. XP → XP Coord XP