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Linguistics > Lectures 20 & 21 > Flashcards

Lectures 20 & 21 Flashcards

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1
Q

what type of structuring does syntax involve?

A

hierarchical structuring (represented by trees)

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2
Q

Are you able to add multiple PPs to a sentence?

A

yes, there is not limit on number of PP additions

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3
Q

in the case of adjunction, what are adjoined to VP?

A

PPs

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4
Q

can PPs be adjoined to NPs?

A

YES

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5
Q

what are adjucts?

A

an optional element in a sentence, clause, or phrase that provides extra information but is not structurally necessary; its removal doesn’t affect the sentence’s grammaticality

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6
Q

Some verbs also take _________ as an argument

A

PPs

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7
Q

what are key features of arguments that are not true of adjuncts?

A
  • May be obligatory
  • The verb determines what can appear.
  • Limited number allowed (as arguments).
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8
Q

A PP may be the ___________ (i.e., a complement) of
a noun phrase (especially with of PPs)

A

object

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9
Q

Adjunct PPs may also ____________ modify the
whole NP

A

recursively

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10
Q

what does it mean to be recursive in linguistics?

A

the ability of a linguistic unit or rule to be repeated or embedded within itself, enabling the creation of an infinite number of sentences and structures

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11
Q

these ambiguities are purely structural

A

structural ambiguity

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12
Q

whats the difference that causes structural ambiguity?

A

all of the words have the same meaning
* only difference: where the PP is adjoined

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13
Q

how does lexical ambiguity compare to structural ambiguity?

A

Depends on differences in word meaning

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14
Q

what is the problem of adjectives?

A

stems from their potential to be overused, vague, and detract from strong, impactful language.

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15
Q

what is a phrase structure rule that includes adjectives?

A

N’ → AdjP N’

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16
Q

what does S = ?

A

the sentence itself, because its a phrase

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17
Q

what does T = ?

A

Tense

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18
Q

what is a TP?

A

tense phrase, a phrase structure that represents finiteness in a sentence, typically including tense-related elements like auxiliaries and modals, and where the subject is located in the specifier position

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19
Q

what are the 2 steps in sentence construction?

A
  1. Create basic sentence structure
  2. Transformations apply and move things around
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20
Q

what is movement?

A

refers to a syntactic operation where a word or phrase appears in a position different from its original, or “base,” position within a sentence’s structure

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21
Q

in an XP tree, what does x represent?

A

any head

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22
Q

T =

A

tense

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23
Q

what are our syntactic tools?

A
  • Flexible tree template
  • Merge subtrees into larger structures
  • Transform structures by moving elements.
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24
Q

whats the source of vocabulary going bad?

A

The problem isn’t with the syntactic structure
exactly…
* It’s with the lexical items we inserted

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25
what type of info do we have in our lexicon?
verbs, nouns, determiners
26
what is subcategorization/c-selection?
refer to the way a lexical item (like a verb) selects its complements
27
subcategorization
describes the specific syntactic categories (e.g., NP, PP) that a verb requires or allows as complements
28
c-selection
more focused on the features (like [±(NP)]) that a verb uses to select its complements.
29
is subcategorization in our lexicon?
YES
30
what does subcategorization being in our lexicon eliminate?
need for phrase structure rules.
31
Subcategorization is ________-Specific
Verb
32
what is an Alternative hypothesis for subcategorization?
Subcategorization follows directly from meaning (When you’re doing any putting, you need to put something somewhere)
33
what is counter-evidence for the alternative hypothesis of subcategorization?
Similar verbs can differ in subcategorization John ate (the steak) [optional] John devoured the steak [obligatory] John dined (*the steak) [impossible]
34
Only the arguments of a _______ appear in subcategorization
verb
35
can adjuncts go into subcategorization?
NO!
36
Semantic agent (“doer” of the action) and syntactic subject are the same
Active voice
37
Syntactic subject of transitive verb is the semantic theme/patient (“receiver” of the action)
Passive voice
38
can be derived from active sentence by movement
Passive voice
39
in the Analysis of Wh-Questions, where does the question word go?
question word must go to the left of it...
40
in the Analysis of Wh-Questions, where does T move to?
T moves to C again
41
Transformations are__________-dependent
structure
42
Transformations are also constrained by what?
* Type of element (constituents) * Type of structure...
43
Some pieces of structure form ________ that can’t be moved out of
islands
44
Coordinate Structure Constraint (CSC)
a linguistic principle that prevents the extraction of an entire conjunct or elements from within a conjunct in a coordinate structure.
45
Islands seem to support the 2-step derivation view, what is this view?
* Form basic structure * Then do movement
46
what do islands have a constraint on?
movement
47
"Complex NP Constraint" (CNPC)/ island
describes a grammatical restriction that limits the movement of linguistic elements out of certain noun phrases, specifically those containing subordinate clauses. These complex NPs act as "islands," preventing extraction of elements from within them.
48
Subject Island
a grammatical structure, particularly the subject of a clause, from which extracting an element (usually a Wh-word) is often considered ungrammatical or at least difficult
49
_____________ seem to be derived from basic trees, with (non- obvious) constraints on how those can be manipulated
Complex trees
50
_________ has even more variation in the form that sentences take
German
51
what is the embedded word order in German?
SOV order
52
what is the yes/no question word order in German?
VSO order
53
what is the unembedded word order in German?
SVO order
54
What is movement in German?
Particles can be left behind
55
what is movement like in Welsh?
Welsh declarative sentences (and questions) have VSO order
56
whats wrong with the VSO order in Welsh?
* Problem: The verb and subject don’t form a constituent... * Solution: Welsh may be SVO under the surface!
57
Syntactic Typology
The study of how languages can vary. * In what ways do languages differ from one another? * In what ways are they the same?
58
Syntactic word order typology considers the _________________ for simple statements
basic word order
59
what is English word order?
SVO
60
What does changing the word order cause?
change of meaning
61
what word order does Japan have?
SOV
62
What word order does Malagasy (Madagascar) have?
VOS
63
What word order does Hixkaryana (Brazil) have?
OVS
64
what are the 4 basic word orders?
* SVO * SOV * OVS * VOS
65
what is the word order variation that can be accounted for with movement?
VSO
66
Which word order is most common?
SOV with 40%
67
what is the word order typology?
1. Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) 40% 2. Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) 35% 3. Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) 7% 4. Verb-Object-Subject (VOS) 2% 5. Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) 0.7% 6. Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) 0.3%
68
____________ is generally head-initial
English
69
The OV vs. VO word order alternation correlates with what?
many other syntactic properties
70
which language is generally head-final?
Japanese
71
Some languages do not require major constituents to appear in a fixed order. Which word order is this?
free word order
72
in free word order languages, how are participants in the event identified?
by other means

Linguistics (14 decks)

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