Chapter 4
Syntax
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What is syntax ?
Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies the rules that govern the formation of sentences.
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Category n. [逻]范畴; 种类
Head
The XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement)
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Coordination rule (并列规则) P47
Coordination’s four important properties:
The coordination rule: X → X *Con X
短语是围绕词范畴构成的句法单位。
Phrasal categories: noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP), adjective phrase (AP) and prepositional phrase (PP).
Phrases can consist of just one word, but more often they contain other elements as well.
Two levels: phrase level, word level.
Phrase structure rule (短语结构规则) p45
The phrase structure rule for NP, VP, AP, and PP:
NP: (Det) N (PP)…
VP: (Qual) V (NP)… AP: (Deg) A (PP)…
Complementizer (补语化成分); Complement phrase (CP)
The revised XP rule: XP → (specifier) X (complement*)
Modifiers 修饰语
The extanded XP rule: XP → (Spec) (Mod) X (Complement*) (Mod)
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Word-level categories （lexical categories） 词汇范畴 P43
Major lexical categories (主要词汇范畴)
Noun (N), Verb (V), Adjective (A), Preposition 次要词汇范畴)
XP rule
PP: (Deg) P (NP)…
Specifier 标志语
head 中心语
Complement 补语
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XP rule (XP 规则) P46
Four phrase structure rules NP: (Det) N (PP)… VP: (Qual) V (NP)… AP: (Deg) A (PP)… PP: (Deg) P (NP)…
A transformation can only change an element’s position. It does not change the categories of words.
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Three criteria to determine a word’s category (P43-44)
Meaning Infection Distribution
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Phrase categories (短语范畴) P45
Phrases are the syntactic units that are built around a certain word category.
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Phrase elements (短语成分) P47-49
Specifiers 标志语 1) Semantic role: help make more precise the meaning
of the head; 2) Syntactic role: mark a phrase boundary (left) Complements 补语
Category refers to a group of linguistic items which fulfill the same or similar functions in a particular language such as a sentence, a noun phrase or a verb. 范畴是指在某一特定语言中执行相同 或相近功能的一组语言项目，如句子、 名词短语或动词。
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Sentences (The S rule) (P50-51)
The traditional S rule: S →NP VP Sentence head: an abstract category
inflection (Infl) InflPInfl phrase (= sentence) Figure 4-4: Infl realized by a tense label Figure 4-5: Infl position realized by an
auxiliary
Ex. 9, 10, 11 (p60)
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Transformations (转换)
Syntactic movement (句法移位), a special type of rule that can move an element from one position to another.
Determiner (Det) 限定词: the, a, an, this, those, … Degree word (Deg) 程度词: quite, very, more, so, … Qualifier (Qual) 修饰语: often, always, seldom, … Auxiliary (Aux) 助动词: must, should, can, will, … Conjunction (Con) 连词: and, but, or, …