Sentence Diagramming Practice

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Sentence Diagramming Practice

• Yay!

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Sentence Relatedness

• Arent there some kinds of sentences we havent
  looked at yet?

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Sentence Relatedness

• Another aspect of our linguistic competence is
  the knowledge that certain sentences are related
• The boy is sleeping.
• Is the boy sleeping?
• The only difference between the two sentences is
  that one is a statement and the other is a
  question clearly they are about the same
  situation.

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Transformation Auxiliaries

• The Auxiliary is clearly important in English to
  the creation of questions. Lets look at the data
  for yes-no questions

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Whats Going On Here?

• Apparently, the Auxiliary is moving to the front
  of the declarative sentence to make a yes-no
  question.
• This is an example of a transformational rule,
  changing the underlying structure of a
  declarative sentence into the surface structure
  of some other kind of sentence.
• In this case, the rule is move Aux, formulated
  as follows
• To create a yes-no question (in English!), move
  the highest Aux to adjoin to S.

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So this
S
VP
NP
D
N
Aux
VP
the
boy
is
V
sleeping
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Changes to this
S
S
Aux
VP
NP
is
D
N
Aux
VP
the
boy
(trace)
V
sleeping
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This is also our proof that there is always an
Aux
S
VP
NP
D
N
Aux
VP
the
boy
V
sleeps
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Notice how the V is no longer inflected, now that
the Aux is visible and takes the inflection.
S
S
Aux
VP
NP
Does
D
N
Aux
VP
the
boy
(trace)
V
sleep
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Deep and Surface Structure

• The basic, or deep structures of sentences,
  corresponds to the PS rules.
• Variations on the deep structure are derived via
  transformations.
• The derived structures are called surface
  structures.
• This is a similar relationship to that we have
  seen with phonemes and allophones, and morphemes
  and allomorphs.

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Another Transformational Rule Wh-Questions

• Creating Wh-Questions is similar
• First, move the highest Aux to adjoin S.
• Then, move the interrogative pronoun (the
  question word) to the C position.

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So, this statement, which follows the PS rules
for a declarative sentence
S
NP
VP
Aux
N
VP
you
will
V
NP
meet
N
who
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Changes first to this
S
S
Aux
NP
VP
will
Aux
N
VP
you
(trace)
V
NP
meet
N
who
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And finally this
CP
S
C
S
Aux
who
NP
VP
will
Aux
N
VP
you
(trace)
V
NP
meet
N
(trace)
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You have got to be kidding me.

• No! Theres proof!

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Consider contraction

• For this sentence
• What do you have to fix?
• We can contract have to to hafa.
• But in this one
• What do you have to fix the TV?
• We cant. Why not?
• Lets try drawing PS trees (using the
  transformation rules for Wh-questions) for these
  sentences.

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The answer Traces!

• In the first sentence, the deep structure looks
  like
• You have to fix (what).
• While in the second, it looks like
• You have (what) to fix the TV.
• In the second sentence, the trace left behind by
  what as it moves to the beginning of the
  sentence prevents have and to from contracting.

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More Transformational Rules

• There are similar (but more complex) rules for
  transformation for all types of sentences
• Passive sentences
• The man was bitten by the dog.
• There sentences
• There is a weird guy outside the window.
• Subordinate clauses
• The man who was bitten by the dog is outside the
  window.

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Transformation Exercise