Syntax

Front 1

Chapter 3
What is the evidence for Phrase structure?

Back 1

1.The Movement Test: A phrase and only a phrase can move.
2.The Sentence Fragment Test: Only a phrase can form a viable sentence (S) fragment
3. The Coordination Test:Only identical types may coordinate
4.The Proform Test: Phrases have words that replace them
5.The Omissibility Test: omissible expressions are always phrases.

Front 2

Node/constituent/category

Back 2

any formal piece of sentence structure

Front 3

Phrasal Category

Back 3

a syntactic category that contains one or more other categories

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Lexical Category

Back 4

A syntactic category that immediately dominates a lexical item

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Branch

Back 5

a line in a tree marker connecting two nodes

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Tree

Back 6

an arrangement of nodes and branches assigned to a sentence by the rules of syntax

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Dominates

Back 7

a category X dominates another category Y if there is a downward path of branches from X to Y and X is the higher category

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Immediately dominates

Back 8

a category X immediately dominates another category Y if there is a single branch connecting X and Y, and X is the higher category

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Mother

Back 9

X is the mother of Y if X immediately dominates Y

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Daughter

Back 10

Y is a daughter of X if X immediately dominates Y

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Sister

Back 11

X is a sister of Y if X and Y share the same mother

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Conflated Rule form
Rules 1-2

Back 12

S --> NP (Aux) VP

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Conflated Rule form
Rules 3-9

Back 13

VP --> V (NP) NP
PP
AjP

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Conflated Rule form
Rule 10

Back 14

PP --> P NP

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conflated rule form
Rules 11-14

Back 15

NP --> (D) (AjP) N

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conflated rule form
Rules 15-16

Back 16

AjP --> (Int) Aj

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Infinitiy and Recursion

Back 17

NP --> NP PP
Theoretically you could always add more prepositional phrases ad infinitum

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The Modifier Rule

Back 18

A modifier (such as an adjunct PP) modifies its sister head phrase

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Generalization Rule

Back 19

XP --> XP PP
X is a variable that can have as value N, V any other appropriate category

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Subordinate Clause Rule

Back 20

NP --> Comp S
Complementizer is the lexical category for words like: that, which, who … acting as subjects or objects in other sentences.

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Recursive Category

Back 21

A Syntactic category that may dominate other instances of itself in a syntactic structure

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Recursive Grammar

Back 22

A grammar that contains recursive rules

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Recursion

Back 23

the quality/property of being recursive

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Embedded S

Back 24

a sentence that is contained within, and functions as a part of, another sentence

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Matrix S

Back 25

A sentence that contains another sentence functioning as a proper part of it

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Root S

Back 26

a sentence that is not contained in any other sentence

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Linguistic creativity

Back 27

A speaker’s ability to produce ‘novel’ utterances of well-formed sentences

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Head (lexical)

Back 28

The central lexical item within a phrase, the lexical item that a phrase is built around

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Head (Phrasal)

Back 29

the central/core phrase with a larger phrase

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Complement

Back 30

A phrase that is a (required) sister of the lexical head of another phrase

Front 31

Adjunct

Back 31

a phrase (often PP) whose sister and mother are identical phrasal categories; in effect, any optional phrase that is not part of the fundamental structure of a given sentence

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Modifier

Back 32

a phrase that is the sister of a lexical or phrasal head

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Subject function

Back 33

A NP is a subject if it is the daughter of S and a sister of VP

Front 34

Complement function

Back 34

Any phrase (XP) is a complement if it is a daughter of a VP or PP and a sister of V or P, respectivel

Front 35

Adjunct Function

Back 35

An adjunct XP is adjectival if it is a daughter of a NP and a sister of a NP
An adjunct XP is adverbial if it is a daughter of a VP and a sister of a VP

Front 36

Coordination

Back 36

NP --> NP Conj NP
VP --> VP Conj VP
PP --> PP Conj PP

Front 37

Proform Insertion

Back 37

Proforms are inserted into a structure.
XP --> ProXP (where XP = any phrasal category)

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Iff

Back 38

if and only if

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Immediately dominates

Back 39

a constituent X immediately dominates another constituent Y iff X dominates Y and is connected to it by a single branch.

Front 40

C-Command

Back 40

a constituent X c-commands another constituent Y and everything in Y iff X and Y are sisters

Front 41

Negative Polarity Items (NPIs)

Back 41

NPIs are lexical expressions that appear in negative constructions but not in affirmative declarative constructions: for example: any, ever, a red cent …

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Principle for NPI

Back 42

The negative element must c-command the NPI.

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Anaphors

Back 43

Reflexive pronouns are called anaphors

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Principle for Anaphors

Back 44

The anaphors have to be c-commanded by its antecedent.

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Binding

Back 45

A constituent X binds another constituent Y iff X c-commands Y and X and Y are coindexed (co-referential): X and Y refer to the same person/thing, and if X c-commands Y, then X is said to bind Y

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Principle A

Back 46

An anaphor (reflexive or reciprocal) must be locally bound

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Pronominals

Back 47

They mirror the behavior of anaphors. But there is an anti-locality effect. A pronominal cannot tolerate an antecedent that c-commands it within the clause

Front 48

Principle B

Back 48

A pronominal cannot be ‘locally’ bound

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R-Expressions

Back 49

Referring expressions don’t need an antecedent to establish reference: they refer directly to someone or something in the world.

Front 50

Principle C

Back 50

An R-expression cannot be bound by another constituent anywhere in the sentence