2-constituent-structure.pdf

CONSTITUENT - is a word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within hierarchical structure. - a group of words that forms a phrase in a sentence.

CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE OF A SENTENCE IS….

- a particular grouping of word - identified using TESTS OF CONSTITUENT

CONSTITUENT TESTS Structural Ambiguity Example:

Rolan saw old men and women. Rolan saw [old men and women] Rolan saw [old men] and women.

old

men

and

women

old

men

and

women

TYPES OF CONSTITUENT TESTS: 1. Non-syntactic Test 2. Distributional Test 3. Other (syntactic) Tests

1. NON-SYNTACTIC TEST [number, gender, case] Det

N

[number] [gender] [case]

[PL]

Det.

N

these

friends

[Det. PL.]

[N. PL.]

2. DISTRIBUTIONAL TEST 1. Pre-posing 2. Post-posing 3. Sentence Fragments

PRE POSING -moving items to the front

[....]

[ . . . . _____ . . . . ]

The mouse ran up the drainpipe •Up the drainpipe, the mouse ran.

POST POSING -moving items to the back

[ . . . . _____ . . . . ]

[....]

He explained his problems to her. •He explained to her, his problems.

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS - A string of words that can be a sentence fragment must be a constituent. - isolate parts of sentence and test where they can stand alone

[ . . . . _____ . . . . ]

[....]

• In conversation, short forms of replies are made. •The replies are also refers to sentence fragments. Question: Who don’t you like? Answer: Your new neighbor! new neighbor!

OTHER (SYNTACTIC) TESTS 1. Coordination 2. Pro-forms 3. Ellipsis

COORDINATION -Sequences of words which are constituents can be coordinated (or ‘conjoined’) with one another, provided that they are of the same syntactic category. -Test constituent identity

[x] & [x] [x] & [y]

cute cats and funny dogs slowly but surely go to the movies or stay at home

Speaker A: What did the mouse do? Speaker B: It ran up the drainpipe and up the roof.

BUT NOT: Speaker A: What did Angel do? Speaker B: *He ran up the bill and up a huge credit card debt.

prep

art

N

It ran up the drainpipe and up the roof. prep

art

N

prep

art

adj

He ran up the bill and up a huge adj

adj

N

credit card debt.

PRO-FORMS -Any string of words that can be replaced by an appropriate pro-form must be a constituent. -test on the basis of the replacement test that replaces constituents by appropriate pro-forms. - Elements that refer to another item (pronouns).

PRO-FORMS [xyz]

[xw] (= y z )

Pro

Pro- NP

Pro

Joyce fetched her friend in the school. She fetched her in the school. She fetched her She fetched her

PP

in the school. there. Pro- PP

Pro- VP

Joyce fetched her friend in the school. Yes, she did.

ELLIPSIS or ANSWER FRAGMENT - Tests the possibility of the omitted constituents - Predominantly applied to predicates

[x y z]

[ x y ___ ]

Rahul went to the market. Where did Rahul go? Answer: to the market.

He ate two red apples. What did he eat? Answer: two red apples.

LABELED TREE DIAGRAMS AND RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE TREE • It is more common to use labeled brackets or labeled tree diagrams. [PP [P down] [NP this road] ]

[PP [P down] [NP This road] ] • It is more common to use labeled brackets or labeled tree diagrams. • [PP [P down] [NP this road] ] PP P down

PP NP

P

this road down

NP D

N

this

road

– Branches – Category labels

– Node Phrasal nodes Lexical nodes

Words – – – – –

Immediately dominates Mother Daughters Dominates A set of elements forms a constituent in a tree diagram if and only if there is a single node that dominates just these elements, and no other items.

A

B d e

C F | g

H i

j

SOURCES: http://languagelinguistics.com/2014/10/10/constituency-tests-in-syntax-linguistics/ http://www.sfu.ca/~hedberg/222_Ch_5_07-3.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF0RgB1dZTU