Questions tagged [x-bar-theory]
A syntactic theory that postulates intermediate constituents below the phrase level (XP) but above the word level (X), known as "X-bar" (written "X̅" or "X′").
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Is there a grammatical framework that gets rid of an intermediate projection X'?
In formal grammars inspired by the generativist tradition, an intermediate projection X' of head X is not considered a phrase. Only the maximal projection is. That's for structural completeness.
Is ...
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Is this phrase a CP or another DP?
If I were to have a DP, such as "the car which I had washed in the garage", the "which I had washed in the garage" sounds a lot like a CP. However, I have never seen CP's embedded ...
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can an object be outside the VP in the X-Bar theory?
everyone. I'm reading an article, and something makes me confused.
In the article there is a sample sentence: (5) Mary hates sharks.
Diesing claims that the object in (5) occupies a VP-external ...
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spec ip and spec vp
I'm new to linguistics. I'm reading an article saying that
"Subjects of stage-level predicates can be mapped into either [Spec,IP] or [Spec,VP]. Subjects of individual level predicates must stay ...
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In X-bar theory, what is N' in the NP 'whichever candidate wins'?
He will support whichever candidate wins.
In the NP hypothesis, whichever candidate wins functions as the object of the verb support, and has the noun candidate as its head, so it makes sense to say ...
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Is it possible to have a repeated node appear under the same node? (Syntax Tree) [illustration provided]
Please help me understand these syntax trees (French and English).
For context we are learning about the representation of movement in syntax trees.
From my understanding, we'd have to use an X' under ...
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Argumentation for the existence of Tense phrase
I could not find syntactic arguments to support the existence of a separate T(ense) category inside the tree for the sentence “John rarely spends the weekend with his family”
As well as syntactic ...
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tree diagrams, X-Bar theory
can TP dominate CP, for example: BILL WANTS ROBERT TO BOLDLY EAT THE CHILI-PEPPER. That's a CP embedded in a CP or a TP? in other words, is the maximal projection 'CP' or TP.
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Meaning of the X-bar item in X-bar theory?
In X-Bar theory, what meaning do the X' nodes themselves represent?
I (believe I) understand the meaning of the XP items: they are the constituent syntactic category phrases. The constituents of a ...
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In X-Bar theory, what could the Specifiers of PPs and AdvPs ever be?
In X-Bar theory, do prepositional phrases, adverbial phrases, adjectival phrases etc. ever have specifiers? What could they be?
The only phrases I know the possible specifiers for are: Noun Phrases, ...
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How does an AdvP attach in X-bar syntax?
I am studying Linguistics and for the life of me, I cannot seem to get my head around X bar theory. I have to figure out the X bar sytax tree of this sentence:
"I love the cover of the book very ...
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How does Case work in an impersonal sentence?
The Case filter is what prohibits the phonetic realization of a DP that recieves no grammatical Case. In languages such as Portuguese, people use impersonal constructions like "há/tem um carro na ...
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How do I treat phrasal verbs in X-bar theory?
I need to draw the tree of this sentence according to x-bar theory.
She would back me up when it was needed
What do I do with the phrasal verb with the pronoun in the middle?
Thank you!
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Syntax X Bar Tree - Complements & Adjuncts
I am having some trouble to identify Complements and Adjuncts. I have the following sentence:
"A picture of the accident of Gabriel is saved on the album with a pink cover with the white dots&...
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x-bar theory - the conjunction "and" connecting different elements
Normally, We use the conjunction "and" to connect two words, phrases, or clauses with the same grammatical functions and grammatical forms. But I wonder how to draw a tree if the conjunction ...
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Is there a language whose syntactic structure accepts a specifier of a PP?
We know a preposition (in X-bar theory) is the head of a prepositional phrase and it has a complement that is the sister of this very preposition. However I've never seen a language with a constituent ...
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V-Bar Syntax in Latin
I am reading Devine and Stephens Latin Word Order, but without the requisite grounding in formal linguistics. They use the term V-bar syntax, and I am not sure what they mean by this and would like ...
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How do you draw a x-bar tree with negative inversion? [closed]
For example: 'Never was I so offended'
There is already a T to C inversion with 'was', where do we put the word 'Never'?
And how should we label it? AdvP or Neg?
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Is Generative / X-bar Theory prescriptivist? (can the descriptivist linguist create X-bar syntax trees?)
I'm drawing some x-bar syntax trees. These seem highly prescriptivist in that it says that you can only do x,y & z. For example the sentence "Because I'm lazy means I'm more efficient" ...
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How to treat adverbial phrases in X-bar theory
My question is about how to represent so-called adverbial phrases like "last night" or "all day". My confusion arises because there seems to be a consensus that these phrases are ...
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In X bar theory, is the first auxiliary the head of an interrogative clause and the remainder the complement?
In X bar theory, the first auxiliary is the head of a declarative clause:
(1) She will have finished it by tomorrow.
Here, subject she is a specifier, and verb phrase have finished it by tomorrow is ...
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To what extent was Chomsky influenced by Tesnière?
Kind of a question about the meta-history of linguistics as a discipline. Chomsky released 'Syntactic Structures' in the US in 1957; Tesnière released Éléments de syntaxe structurale posthumously ...
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How to determine structure of answer for a wh- question
Consider a wh-question (in english language) such as "Who closed the door?". Personally, I can determine that an answer will look like "NP closed the door.", where NP would be a ...
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What is the syntactic function (if there is any) of the prefix in some German verbs?
Consider the following sentence:
"Ich rufe dich an".
It is a very simple Standard German sentence with the verb "anrufen", the unusual thing about it is this prefix that comes ...
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Floating quantifiers in X-bar theory: "the men all have gone"
In chapter 9 of Syntax: A generative Introduction (2nd ed), Carnie shows that we can solve some problems by generating subjects in Spec of VP and letting them move to Spec of TP. In the first ...
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What is the position of 'that' in the relative clause of this sentence?
Researchers report they have engineered an enzyme that can convert 90% of that same plastic back to its pristine starting materials.
Does that originate in spec TP and move to spec CP like in this ...
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is PP ‘out’ an adjunct or a complement of V ‘get’ in ‘get out’
As the title shows, in a VP ‘get out’, is PP ‘out’ an adjunct of VP ‘get’, or a complement of V ‘get’?
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Why only 1 complement is possible?
Source: p 178, 179. Syntax, A Generative Introduction (3 ed, 2012) by Andrew Carnie
[p 178:] 81) Adjunct rule: X' ⟶ X' (ZP)
82) Complement rule: X' ⟶ X (WP)
[p 179:] What this means for ...
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What is the relation between a specifier and a determiner?
Does specifier mean "the" and "possesser" and determiner mean "the" and "possessive 's"?
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You are the first person [to notice the mistake]. (complement vs adjunct/modifier)
You are the {first person to notice the mistake}.
There's no doubt {} is N'. The question is whether first person is a small N' on its own.
If to notice the mistake is an adjunct of first person, ...
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Critics and arguments against the generative syntax theories?
The Generative approach on syntax is very elegant, useful and very complete as far as I can see.
I think that, as all theories have, there must have some critics on it.
But I don't know where to find ...
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How to draw the NP "so little" in "He said so little" in a tree diagram?
He said so little.
includes the NP so little, which doesn't include any noun.
In the X-bar theory style tree diagram, how do you go about describing the NP? Do you have N' below the NP? Do you have ...
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What grammar term corresponds to N' in X-bar theory?
The core idea of X-bar theory is that it has what is called 'bar-level projection' or 'intermediate projection', which is normally represented by X'. And X represents any of the categories N, V, Adj, ...
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Tree diagrams in CGEL
I have a question about this tree diagram in The Cambridge Grammar of The English Language (by Huddleston and Pullum):
Please see the tree diagram in the red box of the nominal preposterous salary ...
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Does the relative clause (which suggests...) here function as an adjunct of the whole clause in front of it?
The high notes returned to his compositions towards the end of his life, which suggests he was hearing the works that were taking shape in his imagination.
I'm not sure how to write up the syntax ...
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In X Bar Theory where can "ne" and "pas" be found?
I have read past papers on French negation and it says that it is accepted that the NegP in French is null, and "pas" is specifier to NegP. So what would "ne" be then? I haven't been able to find ...
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Subcategorisation Frame with DPs
I want to construct a subcatagorisation frame for some words, for example that take a DP complement. Take the preposition "between" as example. I arrive at this point:
Form: "...
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Struggling With Split Projections In My X Bar Tree Diagram
I am trying to complete this linguistics question but I am a bit stuck. I'm not sure if I'm using the AgrNomO projections correctly. I have attached the tree diagram, and here is the question:
Draw ...
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Confusion over Adverbial Adjuncts (X' Bar Theory)
For my Syntax class this semester, we've been asked to look at a language more in depth and try to develop X-Bar compatible rules for it. In doing so, I've come across a reoccurring problem that may ...
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Phrase structure tree of a Wh question [closed]
The sentence would be "Whose dirty underwear is this?".
I assume that the base (is that called deep structure sentence?) would be "This is whose dirty underwear" but I'm not sure what ...
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DP acting as AdvP?
Is it possible for a DP like "three times" to act as an AdvP ("He read the book three times.")? How would such a constituency tree look like? How does the DP modify the verb? Conversely, would the ...
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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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Parsing a sentence with the noun as the Predicator
Can the sentence "That professor is a syntactician," in which the DP "a syntactician" is the predicator, be parsed like a normal sentence, using x-bar theory, the Predicate Shell and the DP Hypothesis?...
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Does "to" correspond to verb inflection in X-bar theory?
In this Government & Binding Theory book I'm reading, it is assumed that "to" in to-infinitives corresponds to verb inflection, meaning that in x-bar tree "to" appears under INFL, exactly where ...
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Are English modal verbs tensed or non-tensed?
My assumption: English modal verbs are non-tensed (i.e. we don't say shoulds or shoulded).
Yet, in X' bar theory, modal verbs appear under the inflection node I', precisely where we find the ...
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X-bar Theory WH and DP movements [closed]
this year I opted to study English syntax as a non native speaker and we arrived to the movements on the X-bar theory. We are studying DP and WH movements on sentences, and while I'm able to ...
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Can the first auxiliary verb be the specifier of a VP in the X-Bar theory?
As far as I know, the first auxiliary is normally treated as the head of a verb phrase (VP) in the X-Bar theory.
He was writing a letter.
In this sentence, for example, the first auxiliary, was, ...
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X-bar tree of the sentence "Why would she not have actually been giving him back the present yesterday?"
I'm having trouble with a particular x bar tree. We're mostly using Liliane Haegeman & Jacqueline Guéron's "English Grammar – A Generative Perspective" as our bible, with some adjustments, e.g. DP'...
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How do contractions work in syntactic movement?
Specifically when the surface structure uncontracted would be ungrammatical. Eg: "Don't turtles live forever?" (Do turtles not live forever/*Do not turtles live forever).
EDIT - Sorry if it's broad ...
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'there' vs 'it' expletive insertion
These are my conditions for detecting an expletive position:
if spec IP has been assigned non 'null' Case and is not theta marked.
However, after this I struggle to choose between 'it' and 'there'.
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