LING 200 Lecture 5: 5
Wednesday, October 4th, 2017
Syntax:
“ytati ostituets…
• Not all linear strings of words within sentences are equal
(4) a. The baby threw steamed broccoli on the floor.
b. The baby threw steamed broccoli on the floor.
(5) a. The baby threw steamed broccoli on the floor.
b. The baby threw the steamed broccoli on the floor.
• English speakers intuitively know that the underlined strings in
(4) form units in a way that those in
(5) do not • We call these units constituents
Syntactic constituents
• A constituent is a group of words that act together as a unit • There are tests that pick out
which groups of words are constituents
1. Substitution – constituents can be replaced by pro-forms (like pronouns)
2. Movement – constituents can be displaced to other parts of a sentence
3. Coordination – constituents can be coordinated with like constituents
Syntactic constituents - Substitution • Substitution – constituents can be replaced by pro-
forms (like
pronouns)
• In (1, her steaed rooli a e replaed with it
(6) a. Ella threw her steamed broccoli on the floor. b. Ella threw it on the floor.
• This tells us it is a constituent
Syntactic constituents - Substitution • Substitution – constituents can be replaced by pro-
find more resources at oneclass.com
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forms (like
pronouns)
• Non-constituents cannot be replaced in the same way
(7) a. Ella threw her steamed broccoli on the the floor.
b. *Ella threw her steamed it the floor.
• This tells us the underlined group of words in (7) is not a constituent
Syntactic constituents - Substitution
• There are different types of pro-forms• Noun phrases are replaced by pronouns (he/she/it)
or one
(6) a. Ella threw her steamed broccoli on the floor.
b. Ella threw it/one on the floor.
• Verb phrases can be replaced by do, do so, or do too
(8) a. Ella threw her steamed broccoli on the floor.
b. ... and Henry did too
Syntactic constituency- Movement• Movement - constituents can be displaced to other parts
of a sentence
• We will talk about two types of movement tests
1. Clefts
2. Topicalization
Syntactic constituency- Movement • A cleft sentence is one of the form:
It {is/was} X that Y
• X = group of words tested for constituency
(9) a. Ella threw her steamed broccoli on the floor
b. It was on the floor that Ella threw her steamed broccoli
Syntactic constituency- Movement • A cleft sentence is one of the form:
It {is/was} X that Y
• X = group of words tested for constituency
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Y(cid:374)ta(cid:272)ti(cid:272) (cid:272)o(cid:374)stitue(cid:374)ts : not all linear strings of words within sentences are equal (4) a. The baby threw steamed broccoli on the floor. (5) a. The baby threw steamed broccoli on the floor. b. The baby threw the steamed broccoli on the floor: english speakers intuitively know that the underlined strings in (4) form units in a way that those in (5) do not we call these units constituents. Syntactic constituents - substitution substitution constituents can be replaced by pro- forms (like pronouns: non-constituents cannot be replaced in the same way (7) a. ella threw her steamed broccoli on the the floor. b. *ella threw her steamed it the floor: this tells us the underlined group of words in (7) is not a constituent. Syntactic constituency- movement movement - constituents can be displaced to other parts of a sentence: we will talk about two types of movement tests, clefts, topicalization.
