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Fundamental-Principles-of-Syntax-els-106

The document outlines fundamental principles of syntax, including Compositionality, Recursion, Constituency, Projection, Merge, Adjunction, Movement, and Substitution. These principles describe how meaning is derived from sentence structure, how sentences can be recursively embedded, and how constituents function within sentences. Together, they form the foundation for understanding language structure and support linguistic analysis and language acquisition.

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Max Xigie Agbulos
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5 views

Fundamental-Principles-of-Syntax-els-106

The document outlines fundamental principles of syntax, including Compositionality, Recursion, Constituency, Projection, Merge, Adjunction, Movement, and Substitution. These principles describe how meaning is derived from sentence structure, how sentences can be recursively embedded, and how constituents function within sentences. Together, they form the foundation for understanding language structure and support linguistic analysis and language acquisition.

Uploaded by

Max Xigie Agbulos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fundamental Principles of Syntax

1. Compositionality human language, distinguishing it from


simpler forms of communication.
The principle of compositionality
states that the meaning of a sentence A relative clause can be embedded
is derived from the meanings of its within another relative clause.
individual words and the syntactic
Basic: "The boy [who lives next door]
rules used to combine them. This
is my friend."
means that complex expressions
inherit their meaning from smaller, Recursion: "The boy [who lives next
simpler units. door [who owns a dog]] is my friend."
Further recursion: "The boy [who
lives next door [who owns a dog [that
"The small dog barks loudly."
barks loudly]]] is my friend."
The meaning of the sentence is
determined by the meanings of
"small," "dog," "barks," and "loudly," as 3. Constituency
well as how they are structurally
A constituent is a group of words that
combined.
function as a single unit within a
Compositionality ensures that sentence. Constituency is crucial for
speakers can understand new determining sentence structure.
sentences by recognizing familiar Constituents can be tested using
words and structures. various tests such as substitution,
movement, and coordination.

2. Recursion
For example, in the sentence:
Recursion allows linguistic structures
"The smart student wrote an essay."
to be embedded within other structures
of the same type, creating potentially "The smart student" is a noun
infinite sentences. This property phrase (NP).
explains how humans can generate
"wrote an essay" is a verb
and understand an unlimited number
phrase (VP).
of sentences from a finite set of rules.
Tests for constituency:
Substitution: "She wrote an
For example:
essay." (Replacing "The smart student"
Simple sentence: "She said with "She")
something."
Movement: "An essay was
Recursive structure: "She said that written by the smart student." (Passive
he believes that they will arrive soon." transformation)
Recursion allows complex sentence
formation and is a key feature of
Fundamental Principles of Syntax

Coordination: "The smart phrase without altering its fundamental


student and the hardworking teacher structure.
wrote an essay."

4. Projection
For example:
The principle of projection suggests
Basic sentence: "She runs."
that lexical elements determine the
structure of larger syntactic units. A Adjunction: "She runs
head word projects its features onto quickly." (Adjunct: "quickly")
the phrase it forms.
Adjunction: "She runs in the
For example: park." (Adjunct: "in the park")
In the phrase "very beautiful
house", the head is "house," making it
7. Movement
a noun phrase (NP).
The principle of movement refers to
In "quickly ran away", the
the syntactic process where words or
head is "ran," making it a verb phrase
phrases shift positions while
(VP).
maintaining grammatical correctness.
For example:
5. Merge
Declarative: "You will read the
Merge is a fundamental operation in book."
syntactic theory that combines two
Question (Wh-movement):
elements to form a larger structure.
"What will you read?"
This process allows for hierarchical
sentence formation.
For example: Other examples of movement:
Merging "the" and "dog" creates Passive voice: "John ate the
"the dog" (NP). cake." → "The cake was eaten by
John.“
Merging "barks" with "the dog"
creates "the dog barks" (sentence, Topicalization: "This book, I
S). really love."

6. Adjunction 8. Substitution
Adjunction is a syntactic operation
where additional elements (such as
adjectives, adverbs, or prepositional
phrases) are added to an existing
Fundamental Principles of Syntax

Substitution occurs when one


linguistic unit replaces another while
maintaining grammatical structure.
This principle is often used to test
constituency.

For example:
Pronoun substitution: "The
smart student wrote an essay." → "She
wrote an essay.“
Do-so substitution: "He
studies hard, and she does so too."

The principles of syntax—


Compositionality, Recursion,
Constituency, Projection, Merge,
Adjunction, Movement, and
Substitution—work together to form
well-structured sentences. These
principles provide the foundation for
understanding language structure,
aiding in linguistic analysis, language
acquisition, and computational
linguistics.

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