What Grammaticality is Not Based On Not on what is taught in school Not on the whether the sentence is meaningful or not Colorless green ideas sleep furiously A verb crumpled the milk Not on having heard the sentence before Enormous crickets in pink socks danced Not on the truth of sentences -if it did, lying would be impossible Not on whether real objects are being discussed Not on whether something is possible Unconscious K of syntactic rules of grammar permits speakers to make grammaticality judgments
What Grammaticality is Not Based On ◼ Not on what is taught in school. ◼ Not on the whether the sentence is meaningful or not. ◼ Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. ◼ A verb crumpled the milk. ◼ Not on having heard the sentence before. ◼ Enormous crickets in pink socks danced. . ◼ Not on the truth of sentences – if it did, lying would be impossible. ◼ Not on whether real objects are being discussed. ◼ Not on whether something is possible. ◼ Unconscious K of syntactic rules of grammar permits speakers to make grammaticality judgments
Syntactic K and Ambiguity Sentences have structures as well as word order Boutique: Ask for the synthetic buffalo hides I'd like to see the synthetic buffalo hides Yes, Sir. Should I stumble on a head of synthetic buffalo, you'll be among the 1 st to be notified Structural ambiguity: For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers Lexical Ambiguity: This will make you smart Smart: clever/ burning sensation Grammatical Relations a. Bill hired Mary b. Mary hired Bill C. Bill was hired by Mary
Syntactic K and Ambiguity ◼ Sentences have structures as well as word order. Boutique: Ask for the synthetic buffalo hides. ◼ I’d like to see the synthetic buffalo hides. ◼ Yes, Sir. Should I stumble on a head of synthetic buffalo, you’ll be among the 1st to be notified. Structural ambiguity: For sale: an antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers. Lexical Ambiguity: This will make you smart. Smart: clever/ burning sensation. Grammatical Relations: a. Bill hired Mary. b. Mary hired Bill. c. Bill was hired by Mary
Grammatical relations like subject and direct object do not always tell us who does what to Whom The syntactic rules permit speakers to produce and understand an unlimited number of sentences never produced or heard before, the creative aspect of L use Thus, the syntactic rules in a grammar must at least account for. a The grammaticality of sentences Word order Structural ambiguity Grammatical relations Whether different structures have differing meanings The creative aspect of Language
◼ Grammatical relations like subject and direct object do not always tell us “who does what to whom. ◼ The syntactic rules permit speakers to produce and understand an unlimited number of sentences never produced or heard before, the creative aspect of L use. ◼ Thus, the syntactic rules in a grammar must at least account for: ◼ The grammaticality of sentences ◼ Word order ◼ Structural ambiguity ◼ Grammatical relations ◼ Whether different structures have differing meanings ◼ The creative aspect of Language
A major goal of linguistics is to show clearly and explicitly how syntactic rules account for this K A theory of grammar must provide a complete characterization of what speakers implicitly know about language Every sentence has one or more corresponding constituent structures composed hierarchically arranged parts called constituents. These may be graphically depicted as tree structures. Each tree corresponds to one of the possible meanings Structural ambiguity can be explicitly accounted for by multiple tree structures
◼ A major goal of linguistics is to show clearly and explicitly how syntactic rules account for this K. A theory of grammar must provide a complete characterization of what speakers implicitly know about language. ◼ Every sentence has one or more corresponding constituent structures composed hierarchiclly arranged parts called constituents. These may be graphically depicted as tree structures. Each tree corresponds to one of the possible meanings. Structural ambiguity can be explicitly accounted for by multiple tree structures
The child found the puppy. A police officer found the puppy. a This yellow cat found the puppy Your neighbor found the puppy. A family of expressions that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category. NP, VP PP, S, Det, N, Adj, Pro, Adv, Aux, and v a Speakers know the syntactic categories of their L, even if they do not know the technical terms
◼ The child found the puppy. ◼ A police officer found the puppy. ◼ This yellow cat found the puppy. ◼ Your neighbor found the puppy. ◼ A family of expressions that can be substituted for one another without loss of grammaticality is called a syntactic category. ◼ NP, VP, PP, S, Det, N, Adj, Pro, Adv, Aux, and V. ◼ Speakers know the syntactic categories of their L, even if they do not know the technical terms