Questions tagged [phrase-structure]
Phrase structure is a widespread approach to the analysis and exploration of sentence structure.
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What is the difference in a constituent and a phrase?
From Wikipedia:
In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words
that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure.
A phrase is a sequence of one or more ...
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2answers
127 views
All non-head material must be phrasal. — Why's this principle nice idea from a mathematical point of view?
Andrew Carnie. Syntax A Generative Introduction (3 ed, 2012). p 208.
Pls see red underline. I never took math after high school! I don't know calculus. What author mean by "nice idea from a ...
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1answer
115 views
SVO triple in case of missing S or V or O?
hi I'm new to phrase/dependency structure.
For a project of mine I want to extract from any sentence a meaningful structure with 3 items i.e. triple.
In general case the Subject-Verb-Object is ideal....
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3answers
78 views
“but” usage (redundancy of “but”)
We all know that "but" is used to replace "except" or indicate that the first clause is contrastive to the second in a way, or the logic these two sentences bear is somewhat contradictory. But, I see ...
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1answer
91 views
Where does supplementation fit in?
As far as I can see, the structure of supplementary constructions like
Karen, being ill, was unable to go
or
John – her father – was unable to walk her down the aisle
or maybe
a washer-dryer
...
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0answers
35 views
Noun Phrase/absolute clause distinction
What is the difference between a supplemental noun phrase and a absolute clause? In these examples and in general. Is it just the non-finite nature of the second example ?
He won at his favourite ...
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0answers
214 views
Phrase structure trees for different languages
I am trying to get to the bottom of the difference between (1) and (2) below, and how the intended meanings would be reflected in a phrase structure tree:
(1) If you think that $100 is too little you ...
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2answers
64 views
Term For A Prepositional Phrase With A Verb?
I know this is an adjectival prepositional phrase:
I like the girl next to him.
And I know this is an adverbial prepositional phrase:
I went to the store.
But what is the term for this? It's a ...
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0answers
171 views
Drawing trees for DP's and Sentences
I'm reading Adger's book Core Syntax and am having trouble with one of the sentences in the last exercise in the Functional Categories chapter. The task is to draw and annotate the tree (bar level and ...
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1answer
80 views
Terminology for chained, nested adjective anatomy
For the moment I am just considering adjectives and adverbs as the same sort of thing, basically modifiers for the noun or verb. I will probably only focus on nouns here for simplicity.
Some examples ...
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3answers
214 views
How Nesting Verbs Works (and if it is Even Possible)
Wondering the different ways you can nest verbs, and what is technically allowed from a mental perspective, not necessarily from a grammatical perspective b/c I imagine it would vary significantly ...
2
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1answer
197 views
How VSO or SOV languages deal with nouns with lots of adjectives
With x V y structure, you divide the (potentially) long nouns/adjective phrases into parts separated by the verb, so mentally you can group everything pretty quickly. But if it is V x y, or even x y V,...
2
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1answer
94 views
Does a generative grammar of the English language exist?
Is there some database on the internet that contains generative grammar of the English language / or any natural language?
I know there are many artificial languages like EBNF those can be formalized ...
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0answers
17 views
Phraseology definition
What's difference between free-phrase and fixed phrase?
Because for some linguist differentiate phraseme (fixed phrase) into 3 part, vollidiomatizität, teilidiomatizität und nichtidiomatizität.
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0answers
76 views
Can determiner/noun pairs not be noun phrases?
The following phrase tree from phrase on Wikipedia has "house at the end on the street" as a noun phrase on the constituency side:
Why wouldn't "The house" be a noun phrase in the same way as "the ...
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1answer
46 views
Infinitive clauses referring to an adjective before a noun [closed]
We know that infinitive clauses can sometimes refer to adjectives before nouns. I feel with what adjectives they can do that, but I don't have any reason for it.
Examples;
You can buy the best ...
2
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0answers
79 views
Which friend did he find to study with?
The question is about what happens to phrases during the time of making them questions.
We know that the following sentence is a normal English sentence which is correct grammatically.
He found a ...
2
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0answers
50 views
Are there any languages that distinguish the thematic roles of theme and patient?
Theme and Patient are often described as distinct thematic roles. My understanding is that Themes undergo an action but does not change their state, while Patients undergo an action and do change ...
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1answer
271 views
Linking surface and deep structure
The sentences in (1) contain the same words, but differ in word order. Nevertheless, the sentences have very similar, if not identical, meanings.
(1a) I am home today.
(1b) Today, I am home.
...
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0answers
50 views
A sort/type/kind of N. Which is the head?
Let's take the example 'A kiwi is [a type of bird]'.
Page 109 of this book https://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1367260110.5528Understanding%20Syntax.pdf sais that the head of a phrase:
A. Has ...
2
votes
1answer
41 views
Reference work needed for Phrase Markers in English
I need a thorough online site or downloadable text that goes into detail about English phrase markers as in this example from Beth Levin's Verb Alternations book "This alternation involves verbs found ...
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1answer
76 views
Constituent borders
Let us imagine there to exist, for instance, a DP. We always observe the only head D on the left or the right of the phrase (depending upon the direction of branching). But every constituent naturally ...
2
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3answers
138 views
Evolution in number of words from Greek to Latin to modern languages
I once read somewhere that Greek used, say, three or four words to express an idea; Latin used five or six words to express the same idea; and nowadays we use eight to ten words to express the same ...
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0answers
66 views
How do I decline a noun phrase?
First, let me say that I'm bad at grammar. Everything I know about grammar I've learned because I want to make my own languages.
Second, I've created an ergative-absolutive language (I'm learning as ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
How do noun-noun compounds fit into a noun phrase in syntax?
I have a question regarding attributive nouns, or noun-noun compounds, and how they are integrated into syntactic rules for NP formation. Typically, the rule given in textbooks for forming a NP is the ...
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1answer
4k views
What kind of phrase is “until recently”?
I learned about prepositions:
they establish a relation with two words
the preposition is followed by an object
-the object of a prepositional phrase is made by a noun phrase
However, I don't know ...
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0answers
88 views
Is “down at the bar” an adjective phrase or adverb phrase?
There are three parts of speeches attributed to "down" in the dictionary: adjective, adverb and verb.
I understand , that at the bar is a sub phrase and a prepositional phrase.
I don't know the rules ...
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1answer
988 views
How are to-infinitive clauses treated in x-bar syntax trees?
For example:
The man refused to send any letters to that place.
This is what I have so far from the Syntax Tree Generator.
What should replace the X there?
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1answer
2k views
Difference between Type 0 and Type 1 in the Chomsky hierarchy
i am the beginner in linguistics and i have little problem with understanding Chomsky hierarchy. So i have grammar like this:
P = {K -> KL,aK->abK,...}
In my opinion, it is not third or second ...
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0answers
48 views
How should “at some time” be tagged in Universal Dependencies framework?
I want to tag a sentence
Jones was unemployed at some time before he graduated.
with UD tags. I'm not sure how to tag at some time.
Stanford parser suggests the reading:
case (time-6, at-4)
...
5
votes
2answers
662 views
X Bar Phrase Structure Question
I'm running into a bit of trouble constructing a tree for the following Lakota sentence:
Wičháša ki hokšíla ki hená mathó wã wãyákapi ki slolyé
man the boy the those bear a see ...
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1answer
962 views
How can PSG describe the vertical dimension of sentence structure? [closed]
PSG (phrase structure grammar) describes the horizontal dimension of sentence structure with strings, sequences of sentence parts, in a way we are all familiar with. We know that nominal expressions, ...
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3answers
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The function of prepositional phrases
I'm looking at the function of prepositional phrases within a sentence, and particularly in this example as a part of a verb phrase. The example I have is:
I remember the precise moment, crouching ...
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2answers
100 views
What's a good source of information about how the structure of english sentences has evolved over time?
There is a lot of information about the evolution of English vocabulary since Anglo-Saxon times, but I am looking for examples of how English sentence construction has changed over time.
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1answer
842 views
Constituency grammar or Phrase Structure Grammar?
In most of the literature I have encountered thus far, the terms "constituency grammar" and "phrase structure grammar" seem to be used interchangeably.
Is either one of the two more acceptable or ...
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0answers
273 views
Did Chomsky originate the term “rewrite rule”?
The earliest mention of the term "rewrite rule" that I am able to find - in the context of phrase structure grammars - is in Chomsky's "Syntactic Structures" (1957).
Did he originate the term?
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1answer
484 views
I'm having trouble with my syntax tree and wanted some help for a project! [closed]
I have to include null complementizers if they exist as well as any mission NP covert subjects.
This is my sentence:
The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed in the end.
i've been ...
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0answers
230 views
Identifying core arguments, constituents? [closed]
In the sentence, 'It was raining' what are the core arguments?
I think [It] is a core argument and [was raining] is another. This would mean that it is a NP and was raining is a VP. But if this is ...
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0answers
622 views
What is the difference between predicate-argument structure and case structure
Predicate's arguments are just case slots, aren't they? So predicate-argument structure and case structure are just the same thing?
2
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1answer
317 views
Evidence for/against Lexical integrity principle
Some (mostly lexicalist) theories of syntax assume that there's a 1-to-1 relationship between the words in a sentence and the nodes in its syntax tree. It seems pretty obvious to me. Is there ...
0
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2answers
535 views
What heads can an adverbial phrase have?
What heads can an adverbial phrase have?
Consider the following examples:
I'll go to bed [soon]_AdvP.
I'll go to bed [in an hour]_AdvP.
I'll go to bed [when I've finished my book]_AdvP.
...
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0answers
36 views
Is there a resource where I can see the logical form of an English sentence?
There are plenty of resources to generate trees from natural language, but none to generate logical forms. Or maybe you know of some great resources to those ends?
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0answers
44 views
Researching extraposition in a syntactic treebank
I'm writing a paper on extraposition in English (and other right-branching discontinuities). I have found a lot of interesting theory on this but the instructions say that if possible concrete corpus ...
2
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1answer
46k views
Drawing tree diagrams of ambiguous sentences generated by a CFG
Suppose I have the following CFG rules:
S -> NP VP
NP -> (D) NOM
VP -> V (NP) (NP)
NOM -> N
NOM -> NOM PP
VP -> VP PP
PP -> P NP
X -> X+ CONJ X
How should I draw the tree ...
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3answers
233 views
Is there a paradigmatic formalism for dependency grammars?
When looking on the web, wikipedia for example, at the concept of
constituent, it is associated with the concept of phrase structure,
and rather quickly with context-free languages (as the ...
3
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1answer
242 views
NPs as adverbials; how to parse them?
NPs can function as adverbials as in the following sentences:
I ran a mile.
I am 5 feet tall.
One way to confirm this is by substituting the NPs with adverbs, e.g. "I ran fast" and "I am very tall". ...
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6answers
7k views
Why is constituency needed, since dependency gets the job done more easily and economically?
I do dependency grammar (DG), and my personal view is that dependency gets the job done more efficiently than constituency by far. The average constituency parse (= phrase structure parse) contains ...
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1answer
104 views
Is it [Dr. [No]] or [[Dr.] No], or something else?
The question focuses on how we should structure expressions with a form of address, such as Mr., Frau, etc., or a title, such as Dr., Prof., etc., and a proper name, such as Smith, Yamada, etc. In ...
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1answer
490 views
Basic questions on X Bar
When formulating a answer to this question - please note I only have a basic high school level of English.
I watched a video on X-Bar theory. I am just trying to get a basic understanding.
What does ...
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2answers
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Is the set of lexical rules, or phrase structure rules finite?
I'm trying to write a program that generates valid English sentences, but without specifying what structure the sentence takes.
I want that to be determined by starting at a simple sentence S (NP VP?...
