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    Syntactic Properties

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    Sunny Ferdaush
    This document discusses syntactic properties, which determine how expressions are combined. There are two main syntactic properties: word order and co-occurrence. Word order refers to the sequence of words, which can vary across languages. Co-occurrence is more fundamental and constrains what expressions can occur together in a sentence. Co-occurrence includes arguments, which are required by certain expressions; adjuncts, which are optional; and agreements between expressions based on features like number. Arguments and adjuncts can be nouns, prepositions, or other parts of speech.

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    Syntactic Properties

    Uploaded by

    Sunny Ferdaush
    472 views10 pages
    This document discusses syntactic properties, which determine how expressions are combined. There are two main syntactic properties: word order and co-occurrence. Word order refers to the sequence of words, which can vary across languages. Co-occurrence is more fundamental and constrains what expressions can occur together in a sentence. Co-occurrence includes arguments, which are required by certain expressions; adjuncts, which are optional; and agreements between expressions based on features like number. Arguments and adjuncts can be nouns, prepositions, or other parts of speech.

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    Written By Sanayat Satter

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    This document discusses syntactic properties, which determine how expressions are combined. There are two main syntactic properties: word order and co-occurrence. Word order refers to the sequence of words, which can vary across languages. Co-occurrence is more fundamental and constrains what expressions can occur together in a sentence. Co-occurrence includes arguments, which are required by certain expressions; adjuncts, which are optional; and agreements between expressions based on features like number. Arguments and adjuncts can be nouns, prepositions, or other parts of speech.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    472 views10 pages

    Syntactic Properties

    Uploaded by

    Sunny Ferdaush
    This document discusses syntactic properties, which determine how expressions are combined. There are two main syntactic properties: word order and co-occurrence. Word order refers to the sequence of words, which can vary across languages. Co-occurrence is more fundamental and constrains what expressions can occur together in a sentence. Co-occurrence includes arguments, which are required by certain expressions; adjuncts, which are optional; and agreements between expressions based on features like number. Arguments and adjuncts can be nouns, prepositions, or other parts of speech.

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    Syntactic Properties

    Syntax is basically the study how expressions are


    combined. Syntactic properties (of expressions)
    determine their behaviour of such combinations.

    There are 2 kinds of syntactic properties:


    1. Word order
    2. Co-occurrence

    1. Word order
    This is the order of wordsthe most obvious
    aspect of syntactic well-formedness.
    i) The word order in English is SVO. But this differs from
    language to language. Only 35% of world
    languages have this order.
    ii) English is commonly considered as a rigid
    language. But still in English the SVO order can also
    be altered, especially in topicalized sentences.
    Example: Sally: I know you dont like apples. So I
    made you strawberry pie.
    Bob: Oh, apple, I like. Its guava I dont like.

    iii) In English the word order can go beyond the SVO


    structure by the use of demonstrative that
    (determiners).
    Example: Sally still didnt receive that letter.
    * Sally still didnt receive letter that.
    Here the determiner must precede the noun.

    2. Co-occurrence
    Getting expression in the right order does not
    guarantee syntactic well-formedness. Cooccurrence is more basic than word order, but
    far more obvious.
    As soon as one decides to use a particular
    expression in a sentence, the choice controls
    (structures) the rest of the sentence, which is
    called co-occurrence.
    This is divided into 3 parts: i) Arguments, ii)
    Adjuncts, iii) Agreements

    i) Arguments
    This is an occurrence of expression that has been
    necessitated by some other expressions.

    Example: * Sally devoured.


    Sally devoured an apple.
    Here, devoured requires two arguments: the
    object (an apple), and the subject argument
    (Sally). Object arguments can also be called as
    the complements.

    Arguments do not always need to be noun-phrases.


    Different kind of expressions require different
    arguments.
    Example: * Sally wondered an apple.
    Sally wondered about Bob.
    Sometimes expressions can require multiple
    complements
    Example: Sally put the book on the table.

    It is not only verbs that require arguments. Other


    expressions can also have their own arguments.
    Example: Sally came to party with Bob.
    For sentences to be well-formed, expressions need
    to provide just as much argument they need. Too
    much might destroy the expression.
    Example: * Sally devoured an apple, guava and a
    pear.

    ii) Adjuncts
    Some expressions in a sentence are purely
    optional. They are adjuncts. They can be added
    as many as one wants.

    Example: Sally likes dogs.


    Sally likes small dogs.
    Sally likes small fluffy dogs.
    Sally likes small fluffy brown dogs.
    Here in the above example the attributive
    adjectives are optional. But they cannot be used
    in every sentence structure.
    Example: * Sally likes fluffy Bob.

    Adjuncts can be other than attributive


    adjectives.
    Example: Sally went to France last year.
    Sally went to France last year in July.
    Same expressions can be used as arguments and
    also as adjuncts according the situation of the
    expression.
    Example: Sally urged Bob to study French.
    Sally went to France to study French.

    iii) Agreements
    Distinct expressions in a sentence might have
    same value for some grammatical features. The
    expressions agree upon these features.

    Example of a number agreement:


    This girl came.
    * This girls came.
    * These girl came.
    These girls came.
    Mixing and matching expressions from different
    numbers is not allowed.

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