Syntax, Part 3 Flashcards
(19 cards)
In English, where does the head of the phrase occur?
The head of the phrase precedes the complement
Not the case for all languages
Where does the head of the phrase occur in Japanese?
After the complement
English Phrase Structure Rules
S: NP VP
NP: DET N
VP: V NP
Japanese Phrase Structure Rules
S: NP VP
NP: N
VP: NP V
Sentence strutcure in Japanese
Subject – Object – Verb (SOV)
Prepositional phrase rules in Japanese
VP: PP NP V
PP: NP P
Malagasay word order
Verb – Object – Subject (VOS)
Malagasay PS Rules
S: VP NP
NP: N
VP: V NP
Causes of structural ambiguity
- The same word may have multiple meanings
- Morphology
- Different syntactic structures
AAVE Habitual Be
Native speakers of AAVE know when it’s possible to use habitual be and when it’s not
E.g. John be happy (John is happy all the time)
E.g. John happy (John is happy right now)
E.g. Can’t say “John be working right now” because its combining two habituations
AAVE Auxiliary Verb “Done”
Done refers to a completed action, recent or not
E.g. I done my homework today
E.g. I done fed the dog three time this week
AAVE Auxiliary Bin
E.g. he bin married (he has been married at some point)
E.g. he BIN married (stressed bin- he has been married for a long time)
AAVE Auxiliary Finna
E.g. I’m finna go (I’m going to go right now)
Southern US English “Multiple Model”
- “might oughta”: if you drank half a drink, you might oughta go home and sleep it off
-“may should”: You may should give that to Billy
-Multi modals is governed by rules; you can’t combine these in any order
How does subject auxiliary inversion differ in AAVE?
The auxiliary precedes the subject
Has subject auxiliary version in cases where SAE does not have it (sentences that are not questions)
E.g. Didn’t no dog bite you (AAVE) vs No dog bit you (SAE)
Negative inversion in AAVE
E.g. couldn’t nobody beat em (nobody could beat them)
SAE also has negative inversion
E.g. Rarely have I seen such a mess, Never would I be able to deny it
Where else do we find subject auxiliary inversion in SAE?
Wh- questions (e.g. who, what , where, why, when, how, which)
e.g. What will Mary read
Conditional inversion
“Had you” alternates with “if you had”
E.g. had you arrived on time, you would’ve seen the whole play
Fuck inversion in British English
-means not
Is he fuck a nice guy (British English - he is not a nice guy)
E.g. will he fuck buy jelly beans ( he will not buy jelly beans)
Does Malaysian English have subject-auxiliary inversion?
No
E.g. you read it already (meaning have you read it)
