Chapter 2: Lexical and Phrasal Signs Syntactic Constructions in English Kim and Michaelis (2020) Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 1 / 70
1 Linguistic Signs and Constructions as Form-Meaning Pairs 2 From Lexical Signs to Phrasal Signs as a Continuum Lexical Signs 3 Classifying Lexical Signs Grammar with Lexical Categories Alone Phrasal Constructions and Constituency Tests 4 Forming Phrasal Constructions: Phrase Structure Rules 5 NP: Noun Phrase VP: Verb Phrase AP: Adjective Phrase AdvP: Adverb Phrase PP: Preposition Phrase CP and ConjP: Complementizer and Conjunction Phrases Grammar with Phrasal Constructions 6 Multi-Word Expressions: Between Lexical and Phrasal Constructions 7 Fixed Expressions Semi-Fixed Expressions Syntactically Flexible Multi-Word Expressions Conclusion 8 Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 2 / 70
What is language? One key theoretical assumption of SBCG (Sign-based Construction Grammar) is the traditional notion that language is an infinite set of signs , arbitrary and conventional pairings of form and meaning. Figure: An example of a sign Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 3 / 70
Examples of signs Construction-based grammars recognize a distinction between signs and configurations of signs, the latter of which are called constructs in SBCG. (1) Simple word-level signs: school, house, hot dog, chase, run, glitter, tall, big, extremely, very, in, on, ... (2) Idioms with no variables: a. The suspect is still at large . b. I’m really feeling under the weather today; I have a terrible cold. c. Don’t beat around the bush . Just tell me the truth. (3) Idioms with variables: a. I tried jogging mom’s memory , but she couldn’t remember Joe’s phone number either. b. Don’t worry about what he said. He’s just pulling your leg . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 4 / 70
Examples of signs (cont’d) (4) Comparative correlatives: a. The younger, the better. b. The longer the trip, the longer the recovery period. c. The stronger you are, the less likelihood you’ll ever have to use it. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 5 / 70
Examples of signs (cont’d) (5) Ditransitive construction: a. Pedro [gave [her] [his email address]]. b. The player [passed [Paulo] [the ball]]. c. Dad [read [me] [the letter]]. d. My mom [taught [me] [the importance of being clean]]. e. My Auntie Julia, a seamstress, [sewed [me] [a leopard bikini]]. (6) a. He took the Brooksville Elementary flag to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. b. ??He took the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro the Brooksville Elementary flag. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 6 / 70
Examples of signs (cont’d) (7) Subject-predicate construction: a. [Elvis] [sang softly]. b. [The furious dog] [chased me]. c. [They] [made the problem more difficult]. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 7 / 70
Interim summary In sum, words, multi-word expressions, and phrases (including clauses) are all analyzed as signs, pairings of form and meaning. We use lexical descriptions (also called lexical entries) to describe words, word classes, and multi-word expressions. On the other hand, we use constructions to describe phrasal signs. Constructions can thus be understood as recipes for combining lexical signs and phrasal signs into larger units. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 8 / 70
� Range of sign types as a continuum of idiomaticity (8) Idiomaticity as a continuum: | | | | | fixed idioms with comparative words subj-pred cx idioms variables conditional cx Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 9 / 70
Two major descriptive goals of the construction-based view (9) Two major descriptive goals of the construction-based view of linguistic knowledge: a. to identify the ‘constructions’ needed to describe the syntactic combinations of a language b. to investigate the constructions (or rules) that license the combination of words and phrases Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 10 / 70
From lexical to phrasal/clausal constructs From words to a clause and a well-formed sentence! (10) sentence . . . clause . . . . . . phrase . . . . . . word . . . The term ‘clause’? (11) a. The weather is lovely today. b. I am hoping that [the weather is lovely today]. c. If [the weather is lovely today], then we will go out. d. The birds are singing because [the weather is lovely today]. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 11 / 70
Lexemes and words Lexeme: basic unit of syntax; an abstract sign that captures the form-meaning correspondence common to all instantiations of that sign (e.g., walk in a dictionary) Words: inflected instantiations (e.g., walked, walks, walking ) Lexemes can be grouped into classes based on their parts of speech (a given lexeme may belong to a couple of different parts of speech). Lexemes can be placed into different syntactic categories according to three criteria: meaning, morphological form , and syntactic function . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 12 / 70
Determining the lexical categories: by meaning - not so reliable At first glance, it seems that words can be classified depending on their meaning. (12) a. N: referring to an individual or entity b. V: referring to an action c. A: referring to a property d. Adv: referring to the manner, location, time or frequency of an action What about words like sincerity, happiness, pain, absence , and loss ? What about words like assassination, construction, remain, appear , and exist ? Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 13 / 70
Determining the lexical categories: by morphological form - not so reliable, either Morphological criteria may be better than semantic meaning criteria. (13) a. N: + plural morpheme -(e)s b. N: + possessive ’s c. V: + past tense -ed d. V: + 3rd singular -(e)s e. A: + -er/est (or more/most ) f. A: + -ly (to create an adverb) (14) a. N: trains, actors, rooms, man’s, sister’s, etc. b. V: devoured, laughed, devours, laughs, etc. c. A: fuller, fullest, more careful, most careful, etc. d. Adv: fully, carefully, diligently, clearly, etc. But, think about information, furniture, love, pain, absent , etc. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 14 / 70
Determining the lexical categories: by syntactic distribution - most reliable The most reliable criterion in judging the lexical category of a word is its syntactic function or distributional potential. (15) a. They have no { TV/car/information/friend } . b. They have no { *went/*in/*old/*very/*and } . (16) a. They can { sing/run/smile/stay/cry } . b. They can { *happy/*down/*door/*very } . (17) a. They read the { big/new/interesting/scientific } book. b. They read the { *sing/*under/*very } book. (18) a. He treats John very { nicely/badly/kindly } . b. He treats John very { *kind/*shame/*under } . (19) a. He walked right { into/on } the wall. b. He walked right { *very/*happy/*the } wall. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 15 / 70
Some examples for basic lexical categories (20) a. N: TV, car, information, friend, . . . b. V: sing, run, smile, stay, cry, . . . c. A: big, new, interesting, scientific, . . . d. Adv: nicely, badly, kindly, . . . e. P: in, into, on, under, over, . . . Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 16 / 70
Supporting evidence for the category ‘Det’ Data (21) a. vaccine could soon hit the market. b. We found out that job is in jeopardy. (22) Determiners: the, my, his, some, these, those , etc. One clear piece of evidence for grouping these elements in the same category, ‘Det’, comes from the fact that they cannot occupy the same position at the same time. (23) a. *[My these jobs] are in jeopardy. b. *[Some my jobs] are in jeopardy. c. *[The his jobs] are in jeopardy. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 17 / 70
Supporting evidence for the category ‘Conj’ Data (24) a. He is a very good pitcher, he just has to have confidence in his pitches. b. he is a very good pitcher, he just has to have confidence in his pitches. Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, so, for, or yet , ... (25) a. [He immediately turned over to the right], for [he had been asleep on his left side]. b. [She knew he shouldn’t drive], yet [she gave him the car keys]. Subordinating conjunctions: since, when, if, because, though, until , ... (26) a. When we spoke, she had been doing chores for her landlord in exchange for free rent. b. Those who drop out may do so because they were not adequately prepared for college. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 18 / 70
Supporting evidence for the category ‘complementizer’ (27) a. She didn’t think she could stand on her own. b. I doubt he would listen to any moderate voice. c. I’m so anxious him to give us the names of the people. (28) a. She didn’t think that [she could stand on her own]. b. I doubt if [he would listen to any moderate voice]. c. I’m so anxious for [him to give us the names of the people]. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 19 / 70
Tense for the complement clause of complementizers The complementizers introduce a complement clause and are sensitive to the tense of that clause. (29) a. *She didn’t think that [her to stand on her own]. b. *I doubt if [him listening to any moderate voice]. c. *I’m so anxious for [he gave us the names of the people]. Syntactic Constructions Chapter 2 20 / 70
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