Syntax: Syntactic Ambiguity Further Fundamental Concepts The Star - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Syntax: Further Fundamental Concepts Course Readings Review and Introduction Syntax: Syntactic Ambiguity Further Fundamental Concepts The Star Notation Introducing Complementizer Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Course Readings Further Fundamental Concepts Course Readings Review and Introduction Syntactic Ambiguity The following readings have been posted to the Moodle The Star Notation course site: Introducing Complementizer ▶ Language Files: Chapter 5 (pp. 194-198, 204-215) Phrases ▶ Language Instinct: Chapter 4 (pp. 74-99) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Course Readings Review and ▶ Syntax = The rules of sentence formation Introduction Syntactic ▶ These rules are stated in terms of ‘syntactic categories’ Ambiguity The Star Notation ▶ Syntactic category = Introducing Complementizer the word-categories that the rules of syntax refer to. Phrases ▶ Noun (N) dog, cat, table, happiness... ▶ Verb (V) jump, sleep, love, think... ▶ Adjective (A) tall, ugly, dead, uncool... ▶ Determiner (D) the, a, this, many, most... ▶ Preposition (P) in, on, to, with, for... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts ▶ Sentences are not just strings of words; they have a complex internal structure: Course Readings ▶ Sentences are made out of phrases : NPs and VPs. Review and ▶ NPs are made out of Ds, As, Ns, and PPs Introduction ▶ VPs are made out of Vs, NPs and PPs Syntactic ▶ PPs are made out of Ps and NPs Ambiguity The Star Notation Introducing Complementizer Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts ▶ Sentences are not just strings of words; they have a complex internal structure: Course Readings ▶ Sentences are made out of phrases : NPs and VPs. Review and ▶ NPs are made out of Ds, As, Ns, and PPs Introduction ▶ VPs are made out of Vs, NPs and PPs Syntactic ▶ PPs are made out of Ps and NPs Ambiguity The Star Notation Introducing ▶ We can express these groupings with ‘Phrase Structure Complementizer Phrases (PS) Rules’: ▶ S → NP VP ▶ NP → (D) (A) N (PP) ▶ VP → V (NP) (PP) ▶ PP → P (NP) ▶ Some notes on the PS Rule notation: ▶ As before, ‘ → ’ means ‘can be made from’ ▶ An item in parentheses is optional ; the phrase doesn’t need to have it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: S → NP VP Course Readings NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Review and VP → V (NP) (PP) Introduction PP → P (NP) Syntactic Ambiguity Our linguistic systems make sentences by using these PS The Star Notation rules and our ‘mental lexicon’: Introducing Complementizer Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: S → NP VP Course Readings NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Review and VP → V (NP) (PP) Introduction PP → P (NP) Syntactic Ambiguity Our linguistic systems make sentences by using these PS The Star Notation rules and our ‘mental lexicon’: Introducing Complementizer ▶ Step One: Use PS rules to make a tree structure. Phrases S NP VP A N V PP P NP D N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: S → NP VP Course Readings NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Review and VP → V (NP) (PP) Introduction PP → P (NP) Syntactic Ambiguity Our linguistic systems make sentences by using these PS The Star Notation rules and our ‘mental lexicon’: Introducing Complementizer ▶ Step Two: Phrases Find words in mental lexicon that match categories in tree. S NP VP A N V PP P NP D N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: S → NP VP Course Readings NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Review and VP → V (NP) (PP) Introduction PP → P (NP) Syntactic Ambiguity Our linguistic systems make sentences by using these PS The Star Notation rules and our ‘mental lexicon’: Introducing Complementizer ▶ Step Two: Phrases Find words in mental lexicon that match categories in tree. ▶ A = ‘angry’ ▶ N = ‘bees’ ▶ V = ‘sting’ ▶ P = ‘on’ ▶ D = ‘the’ ▶ N = ‘face’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: S → NP VP Course Readings NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Review and VP → V (NP) (PP) Introduction PP → P (NP) Syntactic Ambiguity Our linguistic systems make sentences by using these PS The Star Notation rules and our ‘mental lexicon’: Introducing Complementizer ▶ Step Three: Phrases Insert those words into the tree structure, under the appropriate category labels. ▶ A = ‘angry’ ▶ N = ‘bees’ ▶ V = ‘sting’ ▶ P = ‘on’ ▶ D = ‘the’ ▶ N = ‘face’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Review of What We Know Further Fundamental Concepts Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: S → NP VP Course Readings NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Review and VP → V (NP) (PP) Introduction PP → P (NP) Syntactic Ambiguity Our linguistic systems make sentences by using these PS The Star Notation rules and our ‘mental lexicon’: Introducing Complementizer ▶ Step Three: S Phrases NP VP A N V PP Angry bees sting P NP on D N the face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Preview of This Sub-Unit Further Fundamental Concepts Course Readings In this sub-unit, we will push farther into the basics of Review and Introduction syntax: Syntactic Ambiguity ▶ We will learn a new key concept The Star Notation Introducing (‘syntactic ambiguity’) Complementizer Phrases ▶ We will learn some new formal notations for PS rules (stars and brackets) ▶ We will learn a few more PS rules central to English (complementizer phrases) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Multiple Ways to Make One Sentence Further Fundamental Concepts Course Readings Our Four Phrase Structure Rules: Review and Introduction S → NP VP Syntactic NP → (D) (A) N (PP) Ambiguity VP → V (NP) (PP) The Star Notation PP → P (NP) Introducing Complementizer Phrases Key Observation: Our rules often make the same sentence in multiple ways. ▶ Consider: ‘The boy saw the man with the telescope’ ▶ Our rules can make this in two different ways. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: The First Structure: “PP in VP” Further Fundamental Concepts ▶ First, the rule ‘VP → V (NP) (PP)’ forms a VP containing the PP Course Readings ‘with the telescope’ Review and Introduction S Syntactic Ambiguity The Star Notation NP VP Introducing Complementizer Phrases D N V NP PP the boy saw D N P NP the man with D N the telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: The Second Structure: “PP in NP” Further Fundamental Concepts ▶ Secondly, the rule ‘NP → (D) (A) N (PP)’ forms an NP containing the PP ‘with the telescope’ Course Readings Review and S Introduction Syntactic Ambiguity NP VP The Star Notation Introducing Complementizer D N V NP Phrases the boy saw D N PP the man P NP with D N the telescope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syntax: Multiple Structures, Multiple Meanings Further Fundamental Concepts Fun Fact: Course Readings As in morphology, there’s a connection between: Review and Introduction 1. The number of ways our syntax rules make a sentence. Syntactic 2. The number of meanings a sentence has. Ambiguity The Star Notation Introducing Illustration: Complementizer Phrases ▶ Two ways to make ‘the boy saw the man with the telescope’ ▶ Also, two meanings for the sentence: 1. ‘The boy saw the man by using a telescope. 2. ‘The boy saw the man who was holding a telescope ▶ Each meaning relates naturally to one tree structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .