Chapter 1: What Is a Theory of English Syntax about Syntactic - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Chapter 1: What Is a Theory of English Syntax about Syntactic Constructions in English Kim and Michaelis (2020) Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 1 / 29

Linguistic and Syntactic Competence 1 Generative Grammars 2 How We Discover Descriptive Rules 3 Two different views of generative grammar 4 Deductive Reasoning and the Nativist View Inductive Reasoning and the Constraint-Based View Evidence That Grammar Is Construction-Based 5 Goals of This Book 6 Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 2 / 29

Knowing a language? When we say we know a language, what does it mean? It may mean that we know how to create natural (acceptable) English sentences, but not unnatural (unacceptable) ones. (1) a. We can’t pay for health care benefits like this, but you can. b. *We can’t keep affording health care benefits like this, but you can keep. (2) a. She swam. b. *She swam the passengers c. She swam the passengers to three nearby boats. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 3 / 29

Knowing a language? (cont’d) One possible answer: English speakers have linguistic knowledge sufficient to distinguish between ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ sentences. This knowledge, often called linguistic competence , is the ability to speak a language. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 4 / 29

Several levels of linguistic competence Linguistic competence involves several different levels of language structure. Phonetic and phonological competence: knowledge of the sounds of the language and their pronunciation variants. (3) a. pin vs. bin (two different phonemes /p/ and /b/) pin vs. spin (one phoneme /p/, but two allophones [p h ] b. and [p]) Morphological competence: knowledge of rules for forming words (4) a. Swallows wintered beneath the lakes. b. She started googling and learning about him. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 5 / 29

Several levels of linguistic competence Semantic competence: the ability to determine the meaning of a particular sentence from the words of the sentence and their manner of combination (5) a. The dog chased the cat up a tree. b. The cat chased the dog up a tree. Pragmatic competence: the ability to interpret sentences flexibly, according to interactional context (6) a. Can you give me an aisle seat? (said in an airport check-in counter) b. Can you pass the maple syrup, please? (said at a dining table) Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 6 / 29

Syntactic competence and innateness issue Syntactic competence: the ability to combine words into phrases that conform to the phrasal patterns of the language (our major interest in this course!) How children learn these patterns without explicit training? Innateness vs. learning through experience? Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 7 / 29

Linguistic competence: syntactic competence and rule-governed Language is rule-governed . How many possible sentences can we form from five words? In theory, 5! (factorial) = 120. (7) a. The player kicked a ball. b. A player kicked the ball. c. The ball kicked a player. d. A ball kicked the player. e. The ball, a player kicked. f. ... But, out of 120 possible combinations, how many are grammatical? Only a limited number of them! (8) a. *Kicked the player the ball. b. *Player the ball kicked the. c. *The player a ball kicked. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 8 / 29

Linguistic competence: syntactic competence and rule-governed (cont’d) (9) a. My parents decided to stay in the house they built. b. *My parents decided to stay in the house they built it. (10) a. I *(am) fond of that garden. b. He *(is) angry at the not guilty verdict. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 9 / 29

Linguistic competence: syntactic competence and expressivity Expressivity (or creativity): Speakers can produce and understand an infinite number of new, grammatical sentences that the speaker has never spoken or heard before. (11) Forget intelligence or wisdom. A muscular physique might just be a more important attribute when it comes to judging a person’s leadership potential, according to a new study. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 10 / 29

Linguistic competence: syntactic competence and expressivity (cont’d) The expressivity intrinsic to grammatical competence is unbounded (no upper limit). (12) a. The nation faced sanctions. b. The isolated nation faced sanctions. c. The isolated, corrupt nation faced sanctions. d. The isolated, corrupt, belligerent nation faced sanctions. e. . . . (13) a. Some sentences can go on. b. Some sentences can go on and on. c. Some sentences can go on and on and on. d. Some sentences can go on and on and on and on. e. . . . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 11 / 29

Generative grammar (14) Working hypothesis: All native speakers have grammatical competence that enables them to produce and understand an infinite number of grammatical sentences. (15) Generative grammar: An English generative grammar is one that can generate an infinite set of well-formed English sentences from a finite set of rules or principles that do not generate any of the non-well-formed sentences. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 12 / 29

Descriptive vs. prescriptive rules Descriptive rules ‘describe’ implicit, hidden, or naturally occurring language patterns. Prescriptive rules dictate or ‘prescribe’ specific, socially accepted patterns of language. (16) a. Do not end a sentence with a preposition. b. Avoid split infinitives. c. Use who rather than that to introduce a relative clause that describes a human. (17) a. Who does she work with? b. Young people need to try to boldly go where no one has gone before. c. And she’s the person that puts together the master list of songs. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 13 / 29

Discovering descriptive rules How can we find out the descriptive rules of English syntax – those that can generate all of the grammatical sentences, but none of the ungrammatical ones? Since these rules exist in speakers’ minds, we can discover the rules indirectly: we infer these latent rules from the observed data of a language. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 14 / 29

Basic steps in doing data-based empirical research Step I: Collect and observe data. Step II: Make a hypothesis to cover the first set of data. Step III: Check the hypothesis using more data. Step IV: Revise the hypothesis if necessary. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 15 / 29

Step I: Observing data (18) Data Set 1: evidence a. *The professor found some strong evidences of water on Mars. b. *The professor was hoping for a strong evidence. c. *The evidence that Jones found was more helpful than the one that Smith found. (19) Observation 1: a. evidence cannot be used in the plural. b. evidence cannot be used with the indefinite article a(n) . c. evidence cannot be referred to by the pronoun one . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 16 / 29

Step I: Observing data (cont’d) (20) Data Set 2: equipment a. *We had hoped to get three new equipments every month, but we only had enough money to get an equipment every two weeks. b. *This is a large truck which has an equipment to automatically bottle the wine. c. *The equipment we bought last year was more expensive than the one we bought this year. (21) Observation 2: a. evidence/equipment cannot be used in the plural. b. evidence/equipment cannot be used with the indefinite article a(n) . c. evidence/equipment cannot be referred to by the pronoun one . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 17 / 29

Step I: Observing data (cont’d) (22) Data Set 3: clue a. They hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system. b. That would give us a good clue that something funny is going on. c. The clue that John got was more helpful than the one that Smith got. (23) Data Set 4: tool a. The word clouds are good tools for engaging in critical thinking. b. Trade can be a powerful tool for global growth. c. The tool that Jones got was more helpful than the one that Smith got. (24) Observation 3: a. clue/tool can be used in the plural. b. clue/tool can be used with the indefinite article a(n) . c. clue/tool can be referred to by the pronoun one . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 18 / 29

Step II: Forming a hypothesis (25) First Hypothesis: English has at least two groups of nouns, Group I (count nouns) and Group II (mass nouns), diagnosed by tests of plurality, the indefinite article, and the pronoun one . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 19 / 29

Step III: Checking the hypothesis (26) a. much evidence, much equipment, much information, much advice b. *much clue, *much tool, *much armchair, *much bags (27) a. *many evidence, *many equipment, *many information, *many advice b. many clues, many tools, many suggestions, many armchairs (28) a. little evidence, little equipment, little advice, little information b. *little clue, *little tool, *little suggestion, *little armchair (29) a. *few evidence, *few equipment, *few furniture, *few advice, *few information b. few clues, few tools, few suggestions, few armchairs Syntactic Constructions Chapter 1 20 / 29