Syntactic Rules Must Account for the Following

1
Syntactic Rules Must Account for the Following

• ? The grammaticality of sentences
• ? Word order
• ? Hierarchical organization of sentences
• ? Grammatical relations
• ? Structural ambiguity
• ? Different structures with the same meaning
• ? The creative aspect of language.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2003. An Introduction to Language. Boston, MA
Wadsworth, p. 123, adapted.
2
Phrase Structure Tree 1

• Phrase structure trees (PS trees, for short)
  are explicit graphic representations of a
  speakers knowledge of the structure of the
  sentences of his language.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 90.
3
Phrase Structure Tree 2

• A PS tree is a formal device for representing
  the speakers knowledge of the structure of
  sentences in his language, as revealed by our
  linguistic intuitions.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 91.
4
Simplified Grammar of English PS Rules Version 1

• 1. S ? NP VP
• 2. NP ? Det N (R)
• 3. VP ? V NP
• 4. VP ? V (R)
• 5. VP ? V PP
• 6. PP ? P NP
• 7. VP ? V CP
• 8. CP ? C S
• 9. NP ? NP PP (A)
• 10. VP? Aux VP (A)

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 93, 96, 97, 100,
101, 107.
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Simplified Grammar of English PS Rules Version 2

• 1. S ? NP VP
• NP ? Det N
• Det ? NP poss
• NP ? N
• NP ? NP PP
• N ? Adj N
• N ? N

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 110.
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Simplified Grammar of English PS Rules Version 1

• 8. VP ? V
• 9. VP ? V NP
• VP ? V CP
• 11. VP ? Aux VP
• 12. VP ? VP PP
• 13. PP ? P NP
• 14. CP ? C S

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, p. 110.
7
Simplified Grammar of English PS Rules Version 2

• See pp. 112-114 of the textbook for additional
  rules.

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2011. An Introduction to Language, 9th edition.
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, pp. 112-114.
8
Use of PS Rules

• Test to see if sentences are grammatical
• ? Generate grammatical sentences

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman Nina Hyams.
2003. An Introduction to Language. Boston, MA
Wadsworth, p. 140.
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• Hanyu Pinyin Phonemic and Spelling Alphabet
  and Syllabary for Modern Standard Chinese

10
Assessing a Grammar

• If our GRAMMAR is complete, it should generate /
  describe / account for / allow / explain ALL
  grammatical sentences AND NO ungrammatical
  sentences
• THIS MEANS
• 1. IF a rule allows an ill-formed sentence, then
  it must be .
• 2. IF our Grammar (or a rule in our grammar)
  says This sentence is grammatical (and it is),
  then we can say the grammar is .
• 3. IF our Grammar (or a rule in our grammar)
  says This sentence is grammatical (BUT WE KNOW
  it is NOT GRAMMATICAL), then we say .