English Syntax: An Introduction

302 Pages·2008·1.34 MB·English

English Syntax: An Introduction
Jong-Bok Kim and Peter Sells
January 11,2008
CENTERFORTHESTUDY
OFLANGUAGE
ANDINFORMATION
Contents
Preface xi
1 SomeBasicPropertiesofEnglishSyntax 1
1.1 SomeRemarksontheEssenceofHumanLanguage 1
1.2 HowWeDiscoverRules 4
1.3 WhyDoWeStudySyntaxandWhatIsItGoodfor? 7
1.4 Exercises 9
2 FromWordstoMajorPhraseTypes 11
2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 LexicalCategories 12
2.2.1 DeterminingtheLexicalCategories 12
2.3 GrammarwithLexicalCategories 17
2.4 PhrasalCategories 19
2.5 PhraseStructureRules 22
2.5.1 NP:NounPhrase 22
2.5.2 VP:VerbPhrase 23
2.5.3 AP:AdjectivePhrase 25
2.5.4 AdvP:AdverbPhrase 25
2.5.5 PP:PrepositionPhrase 26
2.6 GrammarwithPhrases 26
2.7 Exercises 31
3 SyntacticForms,GrammaticalFunctions,andSemanticRoles 35
3.1 Introduction 35
3.2 GrammaticalFunctions 36
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3.2.1 Subjects 36
3.2.2 DirectandIndirectObjects 38
3.2.3 PredicativeComplements 39
3.2.4 ObliqueComplements 40
3.2.5 Modifiers 40
3.3 FormandFunctionTogether 41
3.4 SemanticRoles 43
3.5 Exercises 46
4 Head,Complements,andModifiers 49
4.1 ProjectionsfromLexicalHeadstoPhrases 49
4.1.1 Internalvs.ExternalSyntax 49
4.1.2 NotionofHead,Complements,andModifiers 50
4.2 DifferencesbetweenComplementsandModifiers 52
(cid:2)
4.3 PSRules,X-Rules,andFeatures 55
4.4 LexiconandFeatureStructures 62
4.4.1 FeatureStructuresandBasicOperations 62
4.4.2 FeatureStructuresforLinguisticEntities 65
4.4.3 ArgumentRealization 66
4.4.4 VerbTypesandArgumentStructure 67
4.5 Exercises 71
5 MoreonSubjectsandComplements 73
5.1 GrammarRulesandPrinciples 73
5.2 FeatureSpecificationsontheComplementValues 76
5.2.1 ComplementsofVerbs 76
5.2.2 ComplementsofAdjectives 80
5.2.3 ComplementsofCommonNouns 82
5.3 FeatureSpecificationsfortheSubject 83
5.4 ClausalComplementorSubject 84
5.4.1 VerbsSelectingaClausalComplement 84
5.4.2 VerbsSelectingaClausalSubject 90
5.4.3 AdjectivesSelectingaClausalComplement 91
5.4.4 NounsSelectingaClausalComplement 93
5.4.5 PrepositionsSelectingaClausalComplement 94
5.5 Exercises 95
CONTENTS/vii
6 NounPhrasesandAgreement 97
6.1 ClassificationofNouns 97
6.2 SyntacticStructures 98
6.2.1 CommonNouns 98
6.2.2 Pronouns 100
6.2.3 ProperNouns 100
6.3 AgreementTypesandMorpho-syntacticFeatures 101
6.3.1 Noun-DeterminerAgreement 101
6.3.2 Pronoun-AntecedentAgreement 103
6.3.3 Subject-VerbAgreement 103
6.4 SemanticAgreementFeatures 105
6.5 PartitiveNPsandAgreement 109
6.5.1 BasicProperties 109
6.5.2 TwoTypesofPartitiveNPs 111
6.5.3 MeasureNounPhrases 116
6.6 ModifyinganNP 118
6.6.1 AdjectivesasPrenominalModifiers 118
6.6.2 PostnominalModifiers 119
6.7 Exercises 121
7 RaisingandControlConstructions 125
7.1 RaisingandControlPredicates 125
7.2 DifferencesbetweenRaisingandControlVerbs 126
7.2.1 SubjectRaisingandControl 126
7.2.2 ObjectRaisingandControl 129
7.3 ASimpleTransformationalApproach 130
7.4 ANontransformationalApproach 132
7.4.1 IdenticalSyntacticStructures 132
7.4.2 DifferencesinSubcategorizationInformation 134
7.4.3 MismatchbetweenMeaningandStructure 138
7.5 ExplainingtheDifferences 141
7.5.1 ExpletiveSubjectandObject 141
7.5.2 MeaningPreservation 142
7.5.3 Subjectvs.ObjectControlVerbs 143
7.6 Exercises 145
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8 AuxiliaryConstructions 149
8.1 BasicIssues 149
8.2 TransformationalAnalyses 151
8.3 ALexicalistAnalysis 152
8.3.1 Modals 152
8.3.2 BeandHave 155
8.3.3 Periphrasticdo 157
8.3.4 InfinitivalClauseMarkerto 160
8.4 ExplainingtheNICEProperties 160
8.4.1 AuxiliarieswithNegation 160
8.4.2 AuxiliarieswithInversion 164
8.4.3 ContractedAuxiliaries 167
8.4.4 AuxiliarieswithEllipsis 169
8.5 Exercises 172
9 PassiveConstructions 175
9.1 Introduction 175
9.2 RelationshipsbetweenActiveandPassive 176
9.3 ApproachestoPassive 178
9.3.1 FromStructuralDescriptiontoStructuralChange 178
9.3.2 ATransformationalApproach 179
9.3.3 ALexicalistApproach 180
9.4 PrepositionalPassives 186
9.5 Exercises 190
10 Wh-Questions 193
10.1 ClausalTypesandInterrogatives 193
10.2 Movementvs.FeaturePercolation 195
10.3 FeaturePercolationwithNoAbstractElements 197
10.3.1 BasicSystems 197
10.3.2 Non-subjectWh-questions 199
10.3.3 SubjectWh-Questions 204
10.4 IndirectQuestions 208
10.4.1 BasicStructure 208
10.4.2 Non-WhIndirectQuestions 213
10.4.3 InfinitivalIndirectQuestions 214
10.4.4 Adjunctwh-questions 217
10.5 Exercises 220
CONTENTS/ix
11 RelativeClauseConstructions 223
11.1 Introduction 223
11.2 Non-subjectWh-RelativeClauses 224
11.3 SubjectRelativeClauses 229
11.4 That-relativeclauses 231
11.5 InfinitivalandBareRelativeClauses 233
11.6 Restrictivevs.NonrestrictiveRelativeClauses 236
11.7 ConstraintsontheGAP 239
11.8 Exercises 243
12 SpecialConstructions 245
12.1 Introduction 245
12.2 ‘Easy’Constructions 246
12.2.1 BasicProperties 246
12.2.2 TransformationalAnalyses 247
12.2.3 ALexicalistAnalysis 248
12.3 Extraposition 252
12.3.1 BasicProperties 252
12.3.2 TransformationalAnalysis 253
12.3.3 ALexicalistAnalysis 254
12.4 Cleftconstructions 258
12.4.1 BasicProperties 258
12.4.2 DistributionalPropertiesoftheThreeclefts 259
12.4.3 SyntacticStructuresoftheThreeTypesofCleft:MovementAnalyses 260
12.4.4 Lexically-BasedAnalyses 262
12.5 Exercises 270
References 273
Index 285

Preface
One importantaspect of teaching English syntax (to native and nonnativeundergraduatestu-
dentsalike)involvesthebalancein the overallapproachbetweenfactsandtheory.We under-
stand that one importantgoal of teaching English syntax to undergraduatestudentsis to help
studentsenhancetheirunderstandingofthe structureof Englishina systematic andscientific
way.Basicknowledgeofthiskindisessentialforstudentstomoveonthenextstages,inwhich
they will be able to perform linguistic analyses for simple as well as complex English phe-
nomena.Thisnewintroductorytextbookhasbeendevelopedwiththisgoalinmind.Thebook
focusesprimarilyonthedescriptivefactsofEnglishsyntax,presentedinawaythatencourages
studentstodevelopkeeninsightsintotheEnglishdata.Itthenproceedswiththebasic,theoret-
icalconceptsofgenerativegrammarfromwhichstudentscandevelopabilitiestothink,reason,
andanalyzeEnglishsentencesfromlinguisticpointsofview.
WeoweagreatdealofintellectualdebttotheprevioustextbooksandliteratureonEnglish
syntax. In particular, much of the content, as well as our exercises, has been inspired by and
adoptedfromrenownedtextbookssuch as Aarts(1997),Baker (1997),Borsley (1991,1996),
Radford(1988,1997,2004),Sag et al. (2003),to list justa few.We acknowledgeourdebtto
theseworks,whichhavesetthecourseforteachingsyntaxovertheyears.
Within this book, Chapters 1 to 5 cover the fundamentalnotions of English grammar. We
start with the basic propertiesof English words, and then rules for combiningthese wordsto
formwell-formedphrasesand, ultimately,clauses. These chaptersguidestudentsthroughthe
basic concepts of syntactic analysis such as lexical categories, phrasal types, heads, comple-
ments, andmodifiers.In Chapter4, as a way of formalizingthe observedgeneralizations,the
textbook introduces the feature structure system of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar
(HPSG,PollardandSag(1994),Sagetal.(2003))whichplacesstrongemphasisontheroleof
lexicalpropertiesandtheinteractionsamonggrammaticalcomponents.
FromChapter6on,thebookdiscussesmajorconstructionsofEnglishwithinaholisticview
ofgrammarallowinginteractionsofvariousgrammaticalpropertiesincludingsyntacticforms,
their grammatical functions, their semantic roles, and overall aspects of clausal meaning. In
Chapter6,weintroduceEnglishsubjectverbagreement,andconcentrateoninterrelationships
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amongdifferentgrammaticalcomponentswhichplaycrucialinteractingrolesinEnglishagree-
mentphenomena.Inparticular,thischaptershowsthatonceweallowmorphologicalinforma-
tiontointerfacewiththesystemofsyntax,semantics,orevenpragmatics,wecanprovidegood
solutionsforsomepuzzlingEnglishagreementphenomena,withinaprincipledtheory.Chapter
7 covers raising and control phenomena,and provides insights into the properties of the two
differentconstructions,whichare famouslyrathersimilar in termsofsyntactic structures,but
differentintermsofsemantics.Chapter8dealswiththeEnglishauxiliarysystem,itselfremark-
ableinthatarelativelysmallnumberofelementsinteractwitheachotherincomplicatedand
intriguingways.Thischapterassignsthepreciselexicalinformationtoauxiliaryverbsandcon-
structionalconstraintssensitivetothepresenceofanauxiliaryverb.Thisallowsustoexpress
generalizationsamongauxiliary-sensitivephenomenasuchasnegation,inversion,contraction,
andellipsis,whichwewouldotherwisebemissed.
From Chapter 9 through Chapter 12, the textbookdiscusses how to capture systematic re-
lations between related constructions. Chapter 9 deals with the relationships between active
andpassivevoiceclauses.Studyingthischapter,studentswillbeabletofullyunderstandwhy,
how,andwhentochoosebetweencanonicalandpassiveconstructions.Chapters10and11deal
withwh-questionsandrelativeclauseconstructions,oftencallednon-localorlong-distancede-
pendencyconstructions,in the sense thata gapandits filler are in a potentiallylong-distance
relationship.These two chapterspresentthe basic propertiesof these constructionsand show
how the mechanism of feature percolation is a crucial part of a systematic account for them.
Thefinalchapterofthebookcoverstheso-called‘tough’constructions,extraposition,andcleft
constructions.Theseconstructionsarealsobasedonlong-distancedependencies,butdifferent
from the constructions in chapters 10 and 11. The goal of all these chapters is the present a
groundwork of facts, which students will then have in hand, in order to consider theoretical
accountswhichapplyinpreciseways.
We have tried to make each chapter maximally accessible. We provide clear, simple tree
diagrams which will help students understand the structures of English and develop analytic
skills to English syntax. The theoreticalnotions are kept as simple yet precise as possible so
thatstudentscanapplyandusetheminanalyzingEnglishsentences.Eachchapteralsocontains
exercisesrangingfromsimple to challenging,aimingto promotedeeperunderstandingof the
factualandtheoreticalcontentsofeachchapter.
Numerous people have helped us in writing this textbook, in various ways. We thank for
theircommentsinvariousplaces,helpandinterestinourtextbook:[...................................]We
alsothankteachersandcolleaguesinKyungHeeUniversityandStanfordUniversityfortheir
constantencouragementovertheyears.Ourgratitudealsogoestoundergraduateandgraduate
studentsatKyungHeeUniversitywhousedthedraftofthisasthetextbookandraisedsomany
questionsthat help us reshape its structure as well as contents. We also thank JinyoungKim,
DongjunLee, andJuwonLeefortheiradministrativehelp.We alsooweoutthankstoDikran
Karagueuzian, Director of CSLI Publications, for his patience and support, as well as Lauri
Kanervaforhishelpin mattersofproduction.We alsothankKaunghiUnforhelpinguswith
PREFACE/xiii
LATEXproblems.
Lastly,butnottheleast,wealsotrulythankourclosefriendsandfamilymemberswhogave
usunconditionalloveandsupportineverypossibleregard.Wededicatethisbooktoourbeloved
oneswhowithtrueloveandrefreshingandcomfortingwordshaveleadustothink‘wiseand
syntactic’whenwearespirituallyandphysicallydown.