Linguistics

SYNTAX Week 8 – Session 1

Recursion

• Recursive (“repeatable any number of times”) rules have

the capacity to be applied more than once in generating a

structure.

• The gun was on the table.

• The gun was on the table near the window.

• The gun was on the table near the window in the

bedroom.

S

NP

Art

VP

V PP

NP

Art PP

P

P NP

Art PP

P NP

Art N

The gun was on the table near the window in the bathroom

N

N

N

Let’s Practice

• Write the phrase structure rules and draw the tree

diagrams of the following sentences:

• The children are in the bedroom in the house near the

lake.

• Homework:

• My parents bought a new car.

• Alison visited Paris in October.

Recursion

• Matthew discovered the secret.

• Helen knows that Matthew discovered the secret.

• Ted knows that Helen knows that Matthew discovered the

secret.

• Nina knows that Ted knows that Helen knows that

Matthew discovered the secret.

Complement phrases

• Helen knows that Matthew discovered the secret.

• The word “that”, as used in these examples, is called a

complementizer (C).

• The role of that as a complementizer is to introduce a

complement phrase (CP).

• Helen knows that Matthew discovered the secret.

Complement phrases

• A complement phrase rewrites as a complementizer and a

sentence

• CP → C S.

• Helen knows that Matthew discovered the secret.

• S → NP VP

• VP → V CP

• CP → C S

Complement Phrases

S

NP

PN

VP

V NP

N Art

Thomas discovered the secret

S

NP

PN

VP

V CP

S

NP VP

C

V NP

Art N

Helen knows that Thomas discovered the secret

PN

S

NP

PN

VP

V CP

S

NP VP

C

PN V CP

C S

NP VP

PN V NP

Art N

Ted knows that Helen knows that Matthew discovered the secret.

Recursion

• Recursion is the property of language that allows for the embedding of categories.

• Language is intricately structured, and linguistic messages are interpreted, layer by layer, in a way that depends on their structure.

• In principle, there is no end to the recursion that would produce ever longer versions of complex sentences with this structure.

• Recursion is also one reason for creativity/ infinite number of sentences.

Exercise

• Draw the tree diagrams for the following sentences:

• Mary was a good student.

• The teacher knew that Mary was a good student.

• The principle believed that the teacher knew that Mary

was a good student.

• I stole the jewelry.

• Mark knows that I stole the jewelry.

• The police know that Mark knows that I stole the jewelry.

Movement rules

• We need to expand our phrase structure rules to include an auxiliary verb (Aux) as part of the sentence:

• You can open the jar.

• S → NP Aux VP

• Can you open the jar?

• The new rule has a special symbol ⇒. So the previous rule can be rewritten as:

• NP Aux VP ⇒ Aux NP VP

Movement Rules

• You can open the jar vs. Can you open the jar?

S

NP

Pro

Aux VP

V NP

N Art

S

Aux

Pro

NP VP

V NP

N Art

⇒

You can open the jar Can you open the jar?

Exercise

• Write down the movement rules for the following

sentences:

• Will Mary visit us?

• Shall I help you with that?

• Could you answer the phone?

Ambiguity

• There are cases when a sentence has two meanings.

• He went to the bank.

• You can use paraphrasing to disambiguate:

1. He went to the financial institution

2. He went to the side of the river

Ambiguity

• There are two kinds of ambiguity:

• Lexical ambiguity: Words with more than one meaning are being used. • Farmer Bill Dies in House.

• He saw her duck.

• Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

• Take your mother-in-law out back and shoot her. (Kodak)

• Structural ambiguity: Structures are ambiguous due to the structure of the tree. • Yoko Ono will talk about her husband John Lennon who was killed

in an interview with Barbara Walters.

• Two cars were reported stolen by the Groveton police yesterday.

Let’s practice!

• Decide if the following sentences are examples of lexical

or structural ambiguity:

• Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case

• Mine exploded

• We will not sell gasoline to anyone in a glass container.

• Stolen painting found by tree

• Free Wales

• Visiting strangers are dangerous

Structural Ambiguity

• He saw the man with a telescope.

• We enjoyed the movie with Madonna.

• The room contained noisy children and animals.

Structural Ambiguity

• He saw the man with a telescope.

• He saw the man who was carrying a telescope.

S

NP

PN

VP

V NP

N Art PP

Structural Ambiguity

• He saw the man with a telescope.

• He used the telescope to see the man

S

NP

PN

VP

V NP

N Art

PP

P NP

Art N He saw the man with the telescope

Now, it’s your turn!

• Consider the ambiguous sentences:

• “Charlotte's Web” is a children's novel by American author E. B.

White, about a pig named Wilbur who is saved from being

slaughtered by an intelligent spider named Charlotte.

• I killed the king with the knife.

• Describe the two meanings informally.

• Draw two complete trees - one for each of the structure –

for the second example.