LINGUISTICS 2

M1 LESSON 1
INSTRUCTOR: LE NGUYEN NHU ANH

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INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
[1] Tom believes himself to be a genius.
[2] Tom believes he is a genius.
[3] Tom believes he to be a genius.
[4] Tom believes himself is a genius.
• What is not right in [3] and [4]?
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
• Syntax: the study of the form, positioning,
and grouping, of elements of sentences =>
the STRUCTURE of sentences
• Compare:
Phonology Morphology Semantics

• The study of how • The study of • The study of

linguistic forms and meaning of
expressions are grouping of the sentences and
connected with elements within relations
the sounds of words between
speech themselves sentence
meanings and
words
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX

1 2 3 4
• General • General • More details • Different
ideas overview of on different kinds of
relevant to the simple aspects of subordinate
the analysis sentence simple clause in
of sentences the complex
sentences sentence
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Contents:
– Structure
– Establishing constituents
– ‘Phrase’ and ‘Constituent’
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Structure:
– Features of a COMPLEX thing:
• (a) it’s divisible into parts (its constituents),
• (b) there are different kinds of parts (different
categories of constituents),
• (c) the constituents are arranged in a certain way,
• (d) and each constituent has a specifiable function in
the structure of the thing as a whole.
The thing has STRUCTURE
Constituents of a complex thing are also complex
A HIERARCHY of parts
HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Structure: For linguistic expression
– When a sequence of words fails to constitute a
good expression => UNGRAMMATICAL (or ILL-
FORMED).
– Example:
• [1a] *the nevertheless procrastinate in foxtrot
• [1b] *disappears none girls of the students
• [1c] *Max will bought a frying pans.
– A full syntactic description of any language
consists in explaining why some strings of words
of the language are well-formed expressions
and others not. => TREE DIAGRAM: show how
things are analyzed into their constituents.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Structure:
– Examples of tree diagrams
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Structure:
– Examples of tree diagrams
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Syntactic Structure:
– (a) analysing linguistic expressions into their
CONSTITUENTS,
– (b) identifying the CATEGORIES of those
constituents, and
– (c) determining their FUNCTIONS.

Old Sam sunbathed beside a road.

1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• What do sentences consist of?
– Sentences consist of words?
– Relationship between a sentence and its words:
‘Are words the IMMEDIATE CONSTITUENTS (IC) of
the sentences that contain them?’
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents

– Compare:
• *Stream old Sam sunbathed beside a
• *Sunbathed old beside stream a Sam

The words are not immediate consituents of the sentence

The words form groups => PHRASES
PHRASES: IC of SENTENCES
What do sentences consist of?
PHRASES
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Syntactic Structure:
– (a) analysing linguistic expressions into their
CONSTITUENTS,
– (b) identifying the CATEGORIES of those
constituents, and
– (c) determining their FUNCTIONS.

Old Sam sunbathed beside a road.

1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Syntactic Structure:
– (a) analysing linguistic expressions into their
CONSTITUENTS,
– (b) identifying the CATEGORIES of those
constituents, and
– (c) determining their FUNCTIONS.

Old Sam sunbathed beside a road.

1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Sentences have hierarchical structure
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Establishing constituents
– Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream.
– [10] *Old Sam sunbathed beside a
[11] *Old Sam sunbathed beside
[12] Old Sam sunbathed
[13] *Old Sam
[14] *Old
– The SEQUENCE OF WORDS “beside + a + stream” can
be omitted, leaving “Old Sam sunbathed” as a good
sentence.
– However, “beside”, “a”, “stream” cannot be omitted
individually.
the sequence, as a unit, is optional in the structure
of a sentence
a constituent of the sentence
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Establishing constituents
– Sequences of words that can function as
constituents in the structure of sentences are
called PHRASES.
– Tree diagrams represent structure by marking
which sequences of words in a sentence are its
constituent phrases.
Syntactic tree diagrams = PHRASE MARKERS.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Establishing constituents
[17] The very talkative gentleman next to me lit a cigar.

The (…) gentleman next to me lit a cigar.

The very talkative gentleman (…) lit a cigar.
The (…) gentleman (…) lit a cigar.

“very talkative” & “next to me”: phrases

Phrases: elements of structure intermediate between
sentence and word.
Omissible sequence of words => PHRASE, constituent
of a sentence.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Establishing constituents
How to determine which sequence of words is a
PHRASE?
1. If you can replace a sequence of words in a
sentence with a single word without changing the
overall structure of the sentence, then that
sequence functions as a constituent of the
sentence and is therefore a PHRASE.

Old Sam sunbathed here/there.

Old Same sunbathed somewhere.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Establishing constituents
How to determine which sequence of words is a
PHRASE?
2. Answers to ‘WH’ questions (that is, questions
that contain one of the question words who, which,
what, why, where, when, whose, and how) are
PHRASES.

WHERE did Old Sam sunbathe?

=> Beside a stream
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• Establishing constituents
How to determine which sequence of words is a
PHRASE?
3. the movement of a sequence of words in
forming a construction indicates that the sequence
is a PHRASE.

Beside a stream, old Sam sunbathed.

1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
How should we represent the phrase beside a
stream using a tree diagram/phrase marker?
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
Phrases form not only SYNTACTIC UNITS
(constituents in the structural form of sentences)
but also SEMANTIC UNITS. In other words, they
form identifiable parts of the MEANING of
sentences; they form coherent units of sense.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
‘Phrase’ and ‘constituent’
– A PHRASE is a sequence of words that CAN function as a
CONSTITUENT in the structure of sentences.

Though he was old Sam did regular press-ups

Compare: Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream.

– OUT OF THE CONTEXT, “old Sam” is a phrase of the

English language because it CAN be a constituent of
English sentences but it is not a constituent of EVERY
sentence.
– Your understanding of particular word-sequences <= how
you structure them in your mind.
=> It’s necessary to construct physical (graphic) phrase
markers to represent these abstract mental structures.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• ‘Phrase’ and ‘constituent’
[33] Sam sunbathed beside a stream that had dried
up.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• ‘Phrase’ and ‘constituent’
If an element (word or phrase) is part of a
phrase, it can only relate to other
elements within that same phrase.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• ‘Phrase’ and ‘constituent’
A node is said to dominate
everything that appears below
it and joined to it by a line.
NODE
‘PHRASE-a’ dominates all the
following elements: beside,
PHRASE-b, a, stream, that,
had, dried, and up.
NODE

A node is said to immediately PHRASE-a in [34] immediately

dominate another element dominates just beside
when there are no intervening and PHRASE-b.
nodes.
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• ‘Phrase’ and ‘constituent’
In a phrase marker, a sequence of elements is represented
as a constituent if there is a node that dominates all those
elements and no others. In other words, if you can trace
just the elements under consideration (i.e. all those
elements and only those elements) up to a single node,
then those elements are represented as a constituent (a
phrase).
1.1 Sentence structure: Constituents
• ‘Phrase’ and ‘constituent’
[36] Heseltine asked how old Sam was.

a) How old is Sam?

b) How is old Sam?

=> STRUCTURALLY AMBIGUOUS SENTENCE

1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Contents:
– Subject and predicate
– Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase
– Dependency and function
• Head
• The modifier ~ head relation
• The head ~ complement relation
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
A systematic sentence analysis is best begun, by
first identifying the very largest phrases – those
phrases which are immediate constituents of the
sentence itself.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Functions of the immediate constituents of the
sentence: Subject and Predicate
SUBJECT PREDICATE
The ducks are paddling away.
Those gigantic ducks were paddling away
furiously.
The mouth-watering duck on won’t be paddling away
the table again.

Subject: used to mention something

Predicate: used to say something about the
subject
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Subject and predicate
– Identify the Subject by asking Yes/No question:
the Subject changes position in Yes/No question
– The subject doesn’t always begin the sentence.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase
– The subject of a sentence is the NP immediately
dominated by S.
– The predicate of a sentence is the VP
immediately dominated by S.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– B and C are SISTERS, they are the DAUGHTERS
of A, the node that immediately dominates them.
And A is the MOTHER of B and C.

– Constituents always have their functions in

respect of their sister constituents.
– Three general concepts: HEAD, MODIFIER,
COMPLEMENT
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The HEAD of a phrase is the element that the
phrase is centred on. It is the one essential –
obligatory – element in that phrase. It
determines the category of the phrase.
– Example: the head of a NP is a Noun, Verb
Phrase – Verb, Adjective Phrase – Adjective, etc.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Modifier ~ Head relation:
There are three sister relationships
in [36]: (1) between two and
PHRASE-b (rather dubious jokes),
(2) between PHRASE-c (rather
dubious) and jokes, and (3) between
rather and dubious. The relation that
holds between these sister
constituents is of the same general
kind, namely MODIFICATION.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Modifier ~ Head relation:
• Relation between rather and dubious:
ONE-WAY FUNCTION/DEPENDENCY.
• rather depends on dubious but not
vice-versa. This function is called
MODIFICATION. The function of rather
is to modify dubious
• Function of dubious: head of the
Adjective Phrase “rather dubious”
• In the structure of a phrase,
modifiers are OPTIONAL; the head is
the OBLIGATORY element.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Modifier ~ Head relation:
• Relation between (rather dubious)
and jokes: MODIFIER-HEAD, rather
dubious specifies the character of
jokes.
• rather dubious is a DEPENDENT
MODIFIER of jokes but not vice-
versa.
• Function of jokes: head of the Noun
Phrase “rather dubious jokes”
• rather dubious is OPTIONAL; jokes is
the OBLIGATORY element.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Modifier ~ Head relation:
• Two is the (optional, dependent)
modifier of the head rather dubious
jokes
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Modifier ~ Head relation:
Phrases – as well as words – can
function as heads and as modifiers.

In a given phrase, there can only

be one head.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Modifier ~ Head relation:
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Head ~ Complement relation:
Old Sam sunbathed beside a stream
A TWO-WAY (MUTUAL) DEPENDENCY; both
elements are obligatory in the structure of
the phrase.

Although beside and a stream are both

needed to express the spatial orientation in
this case, it’s clearly the word beside that’s
giving the phrase as a whole its locational
character. So beside is the head of the
Prepositional phrase.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Head ~ Complement relation:
• When a HEAD demands a further expression, that
further (OBLIGATORY) expression is said to
COMPLEMENT the head.
• Complements typically follow their heads in English.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Dependency and function
– The Head ~ Complement relation:
Phil dreads affectionate cats
For the relation between
dreads and [affectionate
cats]: Neither can be
omitted. => The relation
between dreads and
[affectionate cats] is a (two-
way) HEAD~COMPLEMENT
DEPENDENCY.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Summary
Constituents have their functions in respect of
their SISTERS. Three kinds of functional relation
between sisters:
– Subject~Predicate. The functional relation between
the immediate constituents of sentences, Noun
Phrase (NP) and Verb Phrase (VP).
• It is a mutual (two-way) dependency – S and P are both
obligatory.
• S precedes P.
– Modifier~Head. This is a one-way dependency:
modifiers depend on heads.
• Modifiers are optional (omissible).
• Some modifiers precede and some follow the heads they
modify.
1.2 Sentence structure: Functions
• Summary
– Head~Complement. A two-way dependency.
• Complements are obligatory, needed to complete the
meaning of the phrase.
• The head generally precedes its complement.
– Heads. The head is the obligatory centre of its
phrase.
• Every phrase has a head and no more than one head.
• The category of the head determines the category of
the phrase.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Contents:
– Nouns
– Lexical and phrasal categories (noun and noun
phrase)
– Adjectives and Adverbs
– Adjective Phrase and Adverb Phrases
– Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
– Co-ordinate Phrases
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
Why do we need to categorize words?

 By assigning a word to a particular category, we make a

general statement about its DISTRIBUTION – i.e. about its
possible syntactic positions and functions.

Category
Syntactic
Function
position
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Lexical categories: categories of single words (N, V,
A, Adv, P, etc.)
• Phrasal categories: categories of phrases (NP, VP,
AP, AdvP, PP, etc.)
• When two words or phrases have the same
DISTRIBUTION, they can occupy the same positions
in sentence structure and have the same range of
functions.
Example:
___________ is looking for you.
John A man
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Nouns:
– A noun is the name of a
person, place, or thing. NOUN

– One morphological
identifying feature of PROPER COMMON
all nouns is that they
have a GENITIVE (or
POSSESSIVE) form. COUNTABLE
(e.g., Bill’s stock).
– 4 sub-categories:
PROPER vs. COMMON MASS
and COUNT vs. MASS.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Nouns:
– PROPER NOUNS are names, spelt with an initial
capital. Examples: January, Frankenstein, Bugsy,
Jessica, Java, Portsmouth.
• Proper nouns, because they anyway stand for single,
identifiable individuals, do not normally have any
modifiers at all or appear in a plural form.
– All other nouns are COMMON NOUNS.
• All common nouns can combine with the word the
(THE DEFINITE ARTICLE) to form a Noun Phrase (e.g.
the accident, the mud, the cutlery).
• In any two-word phrase (w1 + w2) of the form [the +
w2], w2 will always be a Noun (N).
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Nouns:
– common nouns that refer to things that can be
counted – COUNT NOUNS –
(a) can combine with a/an (THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE)
to form a Noun Phrase (e.g. a stream, an accident). In
all two-word phrases of the form [a/an + w], w will
always be a Noun.
(b) can combine with numerals (one, two, three . . . ) to
form a Noun Phrase, and with expressions like
several, many, etc..
(c) can be marked for plural. The regular marking for
plural is the suffix –s (singular nouns lack this suffix).
There are several irregular plural markers.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Nouns:
– MASS NOUNS refer to ‘things’ that cannot be
counted (so they are sometimes called non-
count nouns). Examples are butter, foam, cutlery,
furniture, honesty, grace.
– Mass nouns can’t normally appear in a plural
form, but they do follow some (some foam, some
furniture).
– In a two-word phrase of the form [some + w], w
will be a noun. Also, they combine with the.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Nouns:
– It is often possible to turn a mass noun into a
count noun precisely by preceding it with a/an, or
a numeral, and/or giving it a plural form.
a change of meaning:
Example: a mud, two butters (a kind of mud, two
kinds of butter); a beer, three beers (a kind of beer,
or a drink of beer).
– Many nouns are both mass and count. Ex:
• Theory (mass noun) => we need to do some theory.
• Theory (count noun) => a theory, theories, three
theories.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Nouns:
– PRONOUNS are used to stand in place of
complete Noun Phrases (NPs).
• definite pronouns: she/her, it, I/me, we/us, you,
they/them
• reflexive (definite) pronouns: myself, itself, ourselves,
etc.
• indefinite pronouns: something, someone, anything,
anyone
• demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those
• interrogative (question) pronouns: who, which, what
• possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours,
theirs.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Lexical and phrasal categories (noun and
Noun Phrase):
Two rather dubious jokes: NP jokes: N
– Why does “two rather dubious jokes” have to be
of the same category as “jokes”?
the HEAD of “two rather dubious jokes” is “jokes”
It is the category of the HEAD word that
determines the category of the phrase as a
whole.
The other words are present only because of the
function they (directly or indirectly) have in
respect of the head noun.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Lexical and phrasal categories (noun and
Noun Phrase):
– It is the head noun that determines the NUMBER
(singular or plural) and the GENDER (masculine,
feminine, or neutral) of the Noun Phrase as a
whole.
Only one noun in a Noun
Phrase can function as
its head.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Lexical and phrasal categories (noun and
Noun Phrase): • It is the head noun that
determines what sort of thing or
person the whole NP refers to.
• In an NP, constituents that
modify the head noun are
typically optional

[The man devouring the plums] is grinning broadly.

1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Lexical and phrasal categories (noun and
Noun Phrase):
– Wherever possible, sentences should be analysed into a
two-part, NP + VP, structure.
Plans confuse me.
– Plans: NP or N? => both a NOUN and a full NP
– A Noun Phrase can consist simply of a head noun. (This
applies to proper name and pronoun as well)
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Adjectives and adverbs:
– Many adjectives have characteristic endings, such as
-able, -al, -ate, -ful, -ic, -ing, -ish, -ive, -less, -ous, -
y.
– The more common adjectives tend not to have
characteristic endings (e.g. nice, old, hot, dull, short,
tight, full, long, quick) and this goes for the colour
adjectives (blue, yellow, etc.)
– Many adjectives have the morphological possibility
of taking a comparative (-er) and a superlative (-est)
suffix, as in newer and newest, subtler and subtlest.
– Others do not (cf. *beautifuller/*beautifullest,
*dubiouser/*dubiousest) but instead may be modified
by the comparative and superlative DEGREE
ADVERBS more and most, less and least.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Adjectives and adverbs:
– The main function of DEGREE ADVERBS (DEG) is
to modify adjectives (very, quite, so, too, slightly,
hardly, highly, moderately, completely,
increasingly, incredibly, somewhat, etc.)
– Adjectives that accept the -er/-est inflection or
modification by degree adverbs are called
GRADABLE ADJECTIVES.
– NON-GRADABLE ADJECTIVES do not accept the
-er/-est inflection, or modification by degree
adverb. (atomic, dead, potential, right, main,
consummate, medical, fatal, final, second, third,
supreme, unique.)
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Adjective Phrases and Adverb Phrases:
– Adjective Phrases (AP) are centred on adjectives
(A). An AP can consist of an unmodified head, a
simple adjective.
– Adverb Phrases (AdvPs) are centred on adverb
(Adv). An AdvP can consist of just a simple
(geneal) adverb.
• The vast majority of general adverbs are formed from
adjectives by the addition of –ly
• Like degree adverbs, general adverbs can modify
adjectives within Adjective Phrases
• General adverbs can themselves be modified by
degree adverbs, to form adverb phrases
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Adjective Phrases and Adverb Phrases:
How will you draw the tree diagram of this phrase?

more obviously artificial

1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Adjective Phrases and Adverb Phrases:
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases:
– The head of a Prepositional Phrase (PP) is a preposition
(P).
– Within a PP, the relation between a preposition and the
following Noun Phrase is a head~complement relation.
– Prepositions are generally short words that express
relations, often locational relations in SPACE or TIME (to,
at, from, with, towards, in, off, by, up, down, since, before,
after, during, until, like.
– Prepositions don’t always express locational concepts: in
an accident, in a blue coat, off work, under pressure, at
great speed, on the make, like a maniac.
– The most commonly used preposition in the English
language – of – does not express a location.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases:
– 2 basic forms of PP:
• PPs in which the preposition (P) is complemented by
an NP
• PPs consisting of just a P (here, there, aside, aboard,
abroad, along, etc.)
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Co-ordinate Phrases
– [20a] [Max and Adrian] are being melodramatic.
– [20b] [The clowns and the acrobats] refused to co-operate.
 CO-ORDINATE PHRASES
 Co-ordinate NPs have as many heads as there are nouns co-
ordinated in them. Other CO-ORDINATORS are but and or.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Co-ordinate Phrases
– [31] Max and quickly
– [32] the acrobats and quite incomprehensible
– [33] the actress that John met in the foyer and the
acrobats
– [34] in the foundations and under the rafters
– [35] obviously intelligent and to Newcastle
– [36] moderately cheap and extremely nasty
– [37] rather and inconsistent
Which of the following strings are well-formed
phrases and which not?
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Co-ordinate Phrases
– [31] Max and quickly
– [32] the acrobats and quite incomprehensible
– [33] the actress that John met in the foyer and the
acrobats
– [34] in the foundations and under the rafters
– [35] obviously intelligent and to Newcastle
– [36] moderately cheap and extremely nasty
– [37] rather and inconsistent
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Co-ordinate Phrases
– In general, any constituent, of any category, can consist
of a co-ordination of constituents of the same category.
– The principle holds for all categories, including lexical
categories and sentences themselves.

[38] Stuffy and too hot

[39] Too hot and stuffy
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Co-ordinate Phrases

PHRASAL CO-ORDINATION LEXICAL CO-ORDINATION

(of APs) (of A)

The MOTHER and the SISTERS of the co-ordinator all have the
same category label.
1.3 Sentence structure: Categories
• Co-ordinate Phrases
– PHRASAL CATEGORIES (NP, VP, AP, PP, and AdvP) have
a variety of functions: subject, predicate, modifier or
complement.
– LEXICAL CATEGORIES (N, V, A, P, and Adv) have only one
function – they always function as HEAD of the
appropriate phrasal category.
In any phrase marker, LEXICAL categories must always
be dominated by a node bearing the appropriate
PHRASAL category label (even if those phrases contain
nothing in addition to the head).