Syntax (Sintassi) - Appunti (Lingua inglese, glottologia, Linguistica)

Syntax

it's a set of rules & processes that preside over the structuring of sentences.

Deep Structure

the underlying structure of a sentence that conveys the meaning of a sentence.

IN ORDER TO NOT HAVE STRUCTURALLY AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES, THE SURF.S. MUST EXPRESS THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN 2 SENTE.

Surface Structure

The superficial arrangement of constituents and reflects the order in which the words are pronounced.

EX.

"I shot an elephant in my pijamas"

2 POSSIBLE MEANINGS

1. I shot an elephant while I was in my pijamas
2. "I shot an elephant which was wearing my pijamas"

Recursion

This property allows us to put phrases inside other phrases, and still maintaining the meaning. RECURSIVE RULES HAVE THE CAPACITY TO BE APPLIED MORE THAN ONCE IN GENERATING A STRUCTURE.

• ART: article
• N: noun
• NP: noun phrase
• V: verb
• VP: verb phrase
• Adj.: adjective
• Pro: pronoun
• Adv.: adverb
• PP: prepositional phrase
• Prep: preposition

Tree Diagram

S

What is syntax?

it's a set of rules &

processes that preside

over the structuring of sentences.

DEEP STRUCTURE

the underlying structure of a

sentence that conveys the

meaning of a sentence.

IN ORDER TO NOT HAVE

STRUCTURALLY AMBIGUOUS

SENTENCES, THE SURF.S.

MUST EXPRESS THE DISTINC-

TION BETWEEN 2 SENTE.

SURFACE STRUCTURE

The superficial arrangement of

constituents and reflects the order

in which the words are pronounced.

EX.

"I shot an elephant in my pijamas"

2 POSSIBLE MEANINGS

"I shot an elephant while

I was in my pijamas"

"I shot an elephant which was

wearing my pijamas"

RECURSION:

This property allowes us to put phrases inside other phases

maintaining the meaning. RECURSIVE RULES HAVE THE CAPACITY TO BE APPLIED

MORE THAN ONCE IN GENERATING A STRUCTURE.

ART: article

N: noun

NP: noun phrase

V: verb

VP: verb phrase

Adj: adjective

Pro: pronoun

P: preposition

Prep: proposition

TREE DIAGRAM

S

NP VP

ART N V ART N

The dog loved the girl

PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES

are rules that tell us in which order the elements of a sentence should go to be syntactically correct.

• S → NP VP [a sentence is formed by a NP + VP in that order (in English)]
• NP → Art Adj N PP [the minimal thing to form a NP is a N, but the others (optional) are still very common]
• PP → P NP [P + NP are both a must to form a PP]
• VP → V NP PP Adv [V is essential, the others are optional]

This structure works for declarative forms, but not for interrogatives. For this, there's another type of structure, based on a "movement rule".

• S → NP Aux VP
• Aux = Auxiliary verb

Aux → { can, could, should, will, would }

V → { follow, help, etc. }

"You will help Mary" ⇒ "Will you help Mary?"