Questions tagged [syntax]
The study of the internal structure of expressions, especially between words and phrases, and the principles and processes that determine it. This includes words order, but also the grammatical relations that hold between words, as well as structural ambiguity, binding, reference, and similar issues. Common approaches are numerous phrase structure grammars (GPSG, HPSG, LFG, G&B, X-bar, Minimalism, ...) and, on the other hand, dependency grammars.
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help drawing the syntactical tree for long sentence [closed]
Please any one can draw for me the syntactical tree of this long sentence starting from the cp it s an urgent !
[How true was it that you can finally realize that this stroke of self-knowledge has ...
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Corpus studies on the frequency of subject questions in English
Are there any corpus studies which show the relative frequency of different types of interrogative main clauses in English, in particular the relative frequency of subject questions (which do not ...
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Does Python use any particular metasyntax?
Of course, I found many pages on the web explaining Python syntax. One such example is the English Wikipedia article that explains it specifically and compares it to other programming languages. ...
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What are the general word order trends of VO languages
I’ve heard that some scholars collapse SVO, VSO, and VOS into one general category of VO.
From what I understand, these VO languages allegedly exhibit strong and weak common word order trends.
If this ...
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Why do dominant VSO languages all have SVO as an alternative word order?
According to Greenberg’s 6th universal, "All languages with dominant VSO order have SVO as an alternative or as the only alternative basic order."
Why are dominant VSO languages predisposed ...
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Relative possessive pronouns
"Whose" is the only possessive relative pronoun in English. The antecedent of "whose" can be both people and things.
( - Purdue OWL)
"Whose" is not complete as a ...
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Chomsky on licensing parasitic gaps in English
Chomsky (1995: 69) says (115) that "(115b) is ruled out for independent reasons of control theory." What reasons?
(115) a. the book that you filed [without PRO reading e]
b. *the book that ...
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Are there languages where grammatical parallelism does not matter?
English has a strong preference for parallelism (Wikipedia link), even though sentences lacking parallelism are still considered grammatically correct:
Good:
She likes cooking, jogging, and reading.
...
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Is the head function also called nucleus, or is nucleus a subtype of head?
In this visual representation of syntactic functions from Wikipedia, nucleus is given as a subtype of head.
But the Head article appears to treat the two terms as synonyms. The first sentence reads:
...
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How many beats is a syllable?
I’ve read some sources that say a syllable is “one beat” but I don’t understand that. Wouldn’t it depend on the tempo of the pulse. I.e, if a tempo is 60bpm can’t you fit different numbers of ...
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On colorless green ideas
I’m pretty new here. My main focus is logic, so I spend most of my time on the math and philosophy forums.
Chomsky proposed that while “colorless green ideas sleep furiously” is a well-formed sentence ...
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Why is binarity emphasized so much in linguistics?
I'm an aspiring linguistics student, not a professional, so my thinking may be misguided or elementary.
In my personal research about linguistics, I have discovered many important theories and ...
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1-, 2-, and 3-place predicates
Would the following verb be a one- or two-place predicate verb?
"The boy and his friend left"
I'm inclined to think that it's a one-place predicate as normally 'leave' is just that, and that ...
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Do indirect objects induce CED effects?
I'd like to ask those of you who speak English as a first language whether indirect objects induce CED effects (cf. Huang).
Consider:
Of which boy did John send [a letter] [to every friend _]?
Of ...
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How can we distinguish complements from specifiers?
I know this is a problem in the history of Linguistics. The most famous example I can think of is the Determiner Phrase vs. Noun Phrase debates. I'm trying to figure out, if you have evidence that ...
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What's the gender of "nice" in "Mary is a nice person"?
I just read this rule in Greek Essential Grammar:
This passage says that, in the Greek sentence for "Mary is a nice person", the adjective nice is masculine because it must agree with the ...
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Semantics and Coordination
Is coordination only governed by syntax?
What about sentences like "I am afraid of and independent of him"?
Is there nothing odd about it?
The coordinated element is a PP, so it conforms to ...
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About phrasal verbs, separable verb and verbs with adverbs
I was wondering about the concepts listed in the title. In one side we have the separable verbs in German, like mitkommen:
Ich komme mit.
On the other hand we have phrasal verbs such as think over ...
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Is this syntactic tree correct so far? [closed]
*Not homework
I have been doing practice problems, but I am really struggling with syntax trees.
I think I have the first part of the tree, but I'm not sure about the rest.
Here is the practice ...
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What is "Argument Visibility" and “INFL“ in Case Theory?
I didn't know much about case theory. Can anyone help me explain the meaning of "argument visibility" in a way that is easy to understand?
What's more, does the "INFL" mean "...
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Why is P the head of PP?
I was wondering what arguments there were to know that P is the head of a phrase [P + N].
As far as adjunct phrases are concerned, we can clearly see that as Ps select Ns (*during the rock; *in the ...
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How do you write split infinitives in x-bar theory syntax trees?
I want to start by saying that I am pretty new to syntax (and linguistics in general for that matter) but I've been trying to wrap my head around x-bar theory and generative grammar in the last weeks.
...
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Which part of the Oracc data is to be used for pronunciation of Akkadian words?
I shared this Oracc RINAP JSON example in my last post, but now I'm focusing on how to automatically generate an IPA version of each Akkadian "word", from some sort of input word/text.
It ...
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What is the relationship between complement, adjunct, argument and modifier?
For the terminology used in linguistic papers, it is quite confusing. It seems that [complement] and [adjunct] are a pair of concepts that are often distinguished from each other. However, sometimes, ...
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What is [+Ref] in generative grammar?
I'm a beginner in English syntax. Some of the terminology used in papers by generative grammarians is very hard to follow. This is one case. As can be seen from the picture, the author says that "...
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What is one-place predicate and two-place predicate?
When I read some linguistic articles, I encountered two names. One is called a "one-place predicate" and the other is a "two-place" predicate. So what are the definitions of these ...
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I'm having trouble understanding chomskyan linguistics
ok so I'm trying to understand the argument for an innate language faculty, and specifically Chomsky's opposition to the behaviorist model of language acquisition. Behaviorists thought that language ...
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What is the difference between attributive adjective and predicative adjective?
When I began to read articles related to English adjectives, I often encountered these two names: "predicative adjectives" and "attributive adjectives". It seems that the author ...
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Is there a "Range" Phrase?
Is anyone aware of any discussion in linguistics of the possibility of a "range" phrase? As I tentatively conceive of the range phrase, a true range phrase refers to a readily identifiable ...
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What is HMC in generative grammar?
I'm currently reading a Ph.D. thesis concerning the structure of English adjectives. These generative trees are used to illustrate the structure of the phrase "someone tall". The author ...
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Are there languages with free argument order that lack a passive voice? If not, why not?
Consider German, with its four cases and relatively free argument-order.
Now consider the following German sentence, courtesy of Google Translate.
Johan schenkte dem Mädchen eine Katze. (Johan gave ...
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Question about prepositions in English idioms
I have noticed that many idioms in English include a fixed preposition at the same time that the complement of the preposition is free, e.g.
a. light a fire under X
b. carry a torch for X
c. cast a ...
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How to write a program that lists out all the grammar patterns used in a given sentence?
Disclaimer, I have no formal background in linguistics so I'm really asking in the dark here.
Problem: I'm trying to write a program that, given a grammatically correct (this is assumed) sentence, ...
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Distinction between allomorphy and homophony
My understanding of allomorphy, is that it is the case where a single
functional morpheme is realized with many different Vocabulary Items.
But homophony (that is accidental) is also found with Roots, ...
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What is the argument position of a noun in vocative case in a sentence?
What is the argument position (e.g. subject, direct object, ...) of a noun in vocative case in a sentence, for example, in Latin?
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Does the function of a clause belong to semantics or syntax?
In linguistics, is it correct that a clause is classified according to its function into declarative/statement, interrogative/question (yes-no, or content one), and imperative/request/command?
Does ...
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Why is head movement subsumed to PF operation
It is assumed that head movement is a syntactic operation formulated by the main framework that treats head movement as a PF operation (as suggested by Chomsky 2001) and not in the narrow syntax. Also ...
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Grammar/syntax rules for structures larger than the sentence?
All grammar syntax rules (afaik) pertain to words in the same sentence. For example, a complete sentence must have a subject and a verb. But there must be rules for structures larger than the sentence....
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Is there any way to describe how languages are typically spoken, like there is a way to describe grammar?
In English, when ordering food, you'd say "I would like x," not "Please let me purchase x," even though both are grammatically correct. You can say that "I would be liking x&...
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What does a prime mean in a node label in a X-bar structure tree?
In Anderson's Essentials of Linguistics, a X-bar structure tree contains nodes labeled with '. What does the prime mean? What do N', V', and T' mean? Thanks.
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What is an unaccusative or an ergative adjective?
When I was reading papers, I found these expressions. So what is an unaccusative adjective and an ergative adjective?
And what is their relationship with the distinction between raising and non-...
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Book suggestions for a basic introduction to Syntactic Cartography?
I am interested in learning more about Syntactic Cartography and its basic concepts. Can anyone recommend a book or resource that provides a solid introduction to this topic? I have a background in ...
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What are the current views on the existence of a "zero article" in English?
As is well known, under certain circumstances in English, there can be acceptable noun phrases (NPs) that lack a determiner. Some cases include:
(i) "indefinite uncountable nominals" (There ...
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Do the subjects of verbs such as "watch," "listen for," and "read" stand for agents, experiencers, both, or something else?
one: It’s well-known that the subjects of different verbs in different contexts can take subjects that have different semantic roles.
For example, in the sentence “Jill ate a hamburger,” “Jill” ...
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I-language vs E-language
Chomsky (2015:13) says that "It is intensional in the technical sense that the I-language is a function specified in intension, not extension." How should we understand this sentence within ...
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How and what theta criterion should i use and how should I use the Projection principle in these sentences? [closed]
John hopes to win.
So far, I've understood that since to win is an infinitive clause, we cannot give any theta role, but I'm confused with the projection principle of it. Can I say that there are two ...
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"come a long way" [V+OBJ/COMP/ADJUNCT]?
Can someone tell me
i) in terms of constituent tree structure, if a long way is a complement as opposed to an adjunct
ii) in terms of thematic roles, whether a long way takes on the role of location ...
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Can English syntax alone tell apart a person's background?
I was wondering if English syntax alone can tell apart a person's background? For example, if two strangers are exchanging texts - without looking at their spelling, word choices etc, just by the ...
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how to recognize a modifier and a complement in an unclear NPs
You can take those examples which I find very hard and show me on them which is a complement and which a modifier?
The idea that he proposed //The idea that it will rain
I don't know, seems similar (...
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Update: what is the structure of the copula sentence in phrase structure grammar
When it comes to the copula sentence, usually the noun phrase preceding the copula is subject.
(1)The problem is the kids.
(2)??The problem are the kids.
(3)The kids are the problem.
(4)*The kids ...
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