Lecture 3 ~ Phrases
Syntax I ~ 01.28.09 ~ Keir Moulton
Parts of Speech by Substitution Class
Recall the method we used to find parts of speech/syntactic categories. We used distributional criteria to find substitution classes, which we then labeled with familiar names for parts of speech:
(1) {write, read, subscribe, lecture…} = VERB
i. ___-able ii. ___-s iii. ___-ing iv. un-___
v. TENSE __ PREPOSITION
(2) {happy, sad, black, blue…} = ADJECTIVE
i. ___-ness ii. ___-ly iii. un-___ iv. DET __ NOUN
(3) {dog, lamp, sincerity, choosiness …} = NOUN
i. ___-s ii. ___-es iii. PREPOSITION ___ iv. DETERMINER ___ VERB
We did this for a while and we came up with the following categories:
NOUN (N) VERB (V) ADJECTIVE (A) ADVERB (ADV) PREPOSITION (P) DETERMINER (D) TENSE (T) CONJUNCTION (CONJ) COMPLEMENTIZER (C)
Phrases by substitution Class
The same distributional tests identify whole strings of words as belonging to the same substitution class.1
The string D(ETERMINER)+ADJ(ECTIVE)+N(OUN) can appear immediately after a preposition and immediately preceding the ’s which marks the “possessive.”
(4) ___’s & P____ : D+Adj+N
a. I talked to the happy woman. b. the happy woman’s friend
This string can also be “coordinated” with another identical string consisting of the same categories. Coordination involves the use of words called “conjuncts,” words such as and, or, nor, etc.
(5) a. The happy woman and the unhappy man. b.*The angry and an unhappy man. c. *The and an unhappy man.
In addition to D+A+N, we also have strings of the form below which also have the same distribution:
(6) a. The vet looked at some fleas with fleas. D+N+P+N b. The vet looked at fleas with fleas. N+P+N c. The vet looked at large fleas. A+N d. The vet looked at fleas N
…(and so on)…
This substitution class is a phrase, in particular it is a Noun Phrase.
1
A phrase structure rule (PSR) describes what the internal make-up of this substitution class is (parentheses mean optional). Here’s a PSR for the strings in (4):
(7) NP ! (D) (A) N
as trees: NP NP NP NP
D A N D N A N N
Let’s follow Carnie and use the symbol “+” on a member of an expansion (thing on the right hand side of the arrow) which can iterate. Added to A, this will generate:
(8) The boring rainy dark dreary … day.
(9) NP ! (D) (A+) N
This generates strings of the form (where there can be any number of A):
D+A+N D+N N A+N D+A+A+N D+A+A+A+N D+A+A+A+A+N …
What about the strings with prepositions in them, that we saw above?
(10) a. The vet looked at some fleas with fleas. D+N+P+N b. The vet looked at fleas with fleas. N+P+N
These Ps belong to their own separate phrases, having their own substitution class and therefore distinguishing environment:
(11) (N____ & V____ &) A __ & P ___
a. I stood around. V+[P]
b. I knew the man by Mary. N+[P+N] c. I remain disliked by Mary. A+[P+N] d. I stood next to Mary. P+[P+N]
These strings – which we’ll call Prepositional Phrases (PPs) – can be conjoined together but not with NPs:
(12) a. The board gave money and gifts NP and NP b. *The board gave money and to charity. *NP and PP b. The board gave to government and to charity. PP and PP
So the NP rule will refer to PPs:
(13) NP ! (D) (A+) N (PP+)
And the PP rule(s) is(are):
(14) a. PP ! P (NP) b. PP ! P (PP)
It is typical to collapse two rules like this into one, with the braces saying “one or the other but not both”
(15) PP ! P (NP) (PP)
Why not this?
(16) a. PP ! P (D) N (PP)
So we now have two Phrase Structure Rules:
(17) NP ! (D) (A+) N (PP+)
PP ! P (NP) (PP)
These two are recursive: In conjunction, both rules have in their expansion – at one point or another – another instance of their own “start up”:
(18) (There’s) a flea on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea…
More substitution classes of strings
Take the following strings (which now include whole phrases):
(19) V walk
V+NP walk the trail
V+PP walk to the top
V+NP+PP walk the trail to the top
The distinguishing environment for these is:
(20) TENSE ___
(21) a. I should walk. b. I will walk to the top. c. I will walk the trail to the top.
Coordination puts these phrases into a class as well:
(22) a. Mary walked and talked.
b. Mary visited Paul and kissed Barry. c. Mary talked to Paul and met with Barry.
Here then is the PSR for this class – which we will call Verb Phrase (VP)
(23) VP ! V (NP) (PP)
Endocentricity: every phrase rule has in its expansion one obligatory word. This is called the head and the phrase is named after the head.
This means every phrase is in a one-to-one relation with a syntactic category, and every syntactic category is in a one-to-one relation with a phrase.
Adjective Phrases
Therefore, we expect every category to have a corresponding phrase built from it. Adjectives, for instance, should form their own phrase:
(24) AP ! A (PP)
The presence of PPs within APs is supported by the following sentences:
(25) a. She is interested in syntax. b. She is interested.
(26) a. She seems happy with linguistics. b. She seems happy.
The coordination test also treats A and A+PP strings as phrases of the same type:
(27) a. She is happy and interested in syntax. b. He seems bored but happy with linguistics.
Sentence Phrases
Finally, we’ll need a Phrase Structure rule that tells us how these various phrases are put together to form a sentence.
(28) S ! NP VP subject/predicate
The syntactic category that sentences are in a one-to-one relation with the category Tense (T):
(29) TP ! NP T VP
What about the following? Where’s the T?
(30) John walked.
If we look hard, we find that sentences are, in fact, in a one-to-one correlation with a category, but that that category includes not just words, but bound morphemes as well.
e. Martha should leave. f. George might have left. g. Laura desires [Sal to leave]. h. Larry remembers [Jim leaving].
The boldfaced terms have similar distributions: they are found either immediately preceding the verb (if they are free) or affixed onto the following verb (if they are bound).
Adverb Phrases
Adverbs are a word class that is sometimes defined as that class that sits left-adjacent to an adjective
(32) a. A very happy child b. The extremely large boat
They can also be found left adjacent to verbs
(33) a. I have deliberately misled. b. I have noticeably erred.
Interestingly, to a large extent the set of adverbs that can be immediately preceding the verb is a proper subset of those than can immediately precede the adjective:
(34) a. A deliberately angry child b. The noticeably large boat
But not all:
(35) a *I have very misled. b. *I have extremely erred.
Is this a meaning difference (subcategorization among adverbs) or a different substitution class (category)?
A decision
The adverbs, like very and extremely, that appear before adjectives exclusively, we’ll put in a separate category. Consider these “measure” and “extent” words part of the category we’ll call DEGREE. The others are ADVERB
The class of DEGREE words can also show up in combination with adverbs:
(36) a. Mary very quickly walked through the hall. b. Mary extremely loudly declared her major.
(37) AdvP ! (Deg) Adv
Given endocentricity, then we really should find a phrase that corresponds to degree words:
(38) DegP ! Deg
Unfortunately, I don’t know if Degree Phrases can be anything more than this (well, I think I do, but this is another topic altogether). For that reason, I will just have the word category DEGREE (Deg), not the phrase, in these rules.
Adjective phrases have to allow Degrees in them too.
(39) AP ! (Deg) A (PP) (AdvP)
Refinements
Remember our VP from above; now add adverbs before the verb:
(40) VP ! (AdvP+) V (NP) (PP)
e.g. John slowly/quietly/deliberately walked his mother to the store.
VPs can also appear after other verbs:
(41) a. Mary has walked. b. Mary has talked to John. c. Mary has visited Gary.
But nothing may intervene between these two verbs:
(42) *Mary has on the platform walked.
Here’s a way to state this with PSRs:
(43) VP ! (AdvP) V (NP) (PP)
Adjective phrases can appear in VPs as well:
(44) a. Sally remains angry at Jim.
b. Frank seemed happy with his rutabagas.
When APs appear after verbs, there can be one PP, but that PP must precede it:
(45) Jerry seemed [PP to Bill] *[PP at lunch] [AP happy with his rutabagas]
(NP) (PP) (46) VP ! (AdvP) V VP
(PP) AP
More on noun phrases
(47) a. Mary’s book. b. The man’s toy.
c. The dog with the green hat’s earlobe.
The possessor or genitive phrase (and it can be a phrase) is in complementiary distribution (in English at least) with a determiner:
(48) a. *The mary’s book. b. *The the man’s toy.
c. *A the with the green hat’s earlobe.
(49) NP ! (D) (AP+) N (PP+) (NP’s)
Embedded Sentences
(50) a. John said that his cat was having a mid-life crisis at 2. b. John was unhappy that his cat was having a midlife crisis at 2. c. John feared the possibility that his cat was having a midlife crisis at 2.
This kind of phrase can also sit where NPs sit in the TP:
(51) That his cat was having a crisis bothered John.
We’ll call these phrases Complementizer Phrases, after the thing that introduces them. They have the form below:
(52) CP ! C TP
PSR inventory
We now require revisions to our PSRs to allow CPs in NP, AP, VP, and TP. With those additions, we now have a number of PSRs that will generate a whole whack of English sentences (but we’d have a lot more work to do to say this was complete).
(53) NP ! (D) (AP+) N (PP+) (CP) (NP’s)
(NP) (PP) (CP) (54) VP ! (AdvP) V VP
(PP) AP
(55) AP ! (Deg) A (PP) (CP) (AdvP)
(56) AdvP ! (Deg) Adv
(57) TP ! NP T VP CP
(58) PP ! P (NP) (PP)
(59) AdvP ! (Deg) Adv
One last rule:
Coordination: put any two like phrases (or heads) together with a conjunction like and, or, but…and make a phrase (or head) of the same type:
(61) "!" Conjunction "
where " = any X or XP.
Constituency
The phrases wee have identified can be independently verified as units (i.e. constituents) by several types of tests:
Constituency tests: Syntactic constructions (sentence patterns in the terms of traditional grammar) that can help determine whether a given string of words forms a constituent or not. Below are three constructions that are often used for this purpose.
A. Replacement tests
These are just versions of using substitution classes. NPs can be replaced with pronouns:
(62) a. The potbelly stove in the corner of the cabin up north (called the kettle silly.) b. It (called the kettle silly).
B. Coordinate construction:
(63) a. That old house and these antique chairs inspire tremendous admiration . b. *That old house sometimes and these antique chairs inspire tremendous admiration.
Observation: Each conjunct must be a constituent. Since sometimes is not part of the NP that old house, the second sentence is bad.
C. Cleft construction:
(64) a. Jack threw his socks into the fireplace. b. It was his socks that Jack threw into the fireplace. c. It was into the fireplace that Jack threw his socks. d. *It was his socks into the fireplace that Jack threw.
Observation: Only a constituent can occur between be and that. Again, the VP contains V NP PP. So NP PP can't be clefted.
D. Pseudo-cleft construction:
(65) a. What Jack threw into the cooking pot were his socks. b. What Jack did was throw his socks into the cooking pot. c. *What Jack threw was his socks into the cooking pot.
Observation: Only a constituent (replaceable by what) can occur after be.
The pseudo-cleft construction can be used to determine phrases of almost all categories, provided that the initial wh-pronoun can replace the corresponding phrase. The examples above show that what can help identify an NP. Here are more. The constituent phrase is wrapped between brackets:
VP:
Jack threw his socks into the cooking pot.
What Jack did was [VP throw his socks into the cooking pot ].
PP:
Where Jack threw his socks was [PP into the cooking pot ].
AP:
Brenda was extremely smart.
