语言学第四章

目的与要求Studentswilllearn:Whatsyntaxis;Categories:wordlevelcategories;phrasecategoriesandtheirstructures;PhrasestructurerulePhraseelementsSentences(TheSrule)TransformationsWhatissyntax?Syntaxisabranchoflinguisticsthatstudieshowwordsarecombinedtoformsentencesandtherulesthatgoverntheformationofsentences.Asimpleversionoftransformationalsyntaxwillbeintroducedbecauseitisthemostpopularandbestknownapproachtosyntacticanalysisandbecausemanyoftheotherapproachesthatexisttodayhavedevelopedinresponsetoit.Categories(范畴)Word-level(orlexical)categoriesCategoryreferstoagroupoflinguisticitemswhichfulfillthesameorsimilarfunctionsinaparticularlanguagesuchassentence,anounphraseoraverb.Afundamentalfactaboutwordsinallhumanlanguagesisthattheycanbegroupedtogetherintoarelativelysmallnumberofclasses,calledsyntacticcategories.(句法范畴)Syntacticcategorycanbedividedintotwogroups:LexicalcategoryandphrasecategoryLexicalcategoryismostcentraltothestudyofsyntax.Lexicalcategoriesaredividedintotwokinds:majorlexicalcategoriesandminorlexicalcategories.CategoriesTable4-1ExamplesofsomelexicalcategoriesMajorlexicalcategoriesExamplesNoun(N)Book,boy,love,sheepVerb(V)Run,read,playAdjective(A)Happy,tall,clearPreposition(P)About,over,onMinorlexicalcategoriesExamplesDeterminer(Det)The,a,this,thoseDegreeword(Deg)Quite,very,more,soQualifier(Qual)Often,always,seldom,almostAuxiliary(Aux)Must,should,can,mightConjunction(Con)And,but,orMeaning:e.g.anentity,aproperty,anattribute,astate,anaction,sensations,etc.Inflection(Wordsofdifferentcategoriestakedifferentinflections.)inflectionalaffixes:Noun:-se.g.books,chairsVerb:-s;-ed;-inge.g.sees,hunted,watichingAdj.:-er;-este.g.taller,fastestDistribution(Whattypeofelementscanco-occurwithacertainword?)Howcanwedetermineaword’scategory?Distribution(Whattypeofelementscanco-occurwithacertainword?)categoryDistributionalpropertyExamplesnounOccurrencewithadetermineracar,thebookverbOccurrencewithanauxiliaryhasgone,willstayAdj.Occurrencewithadegreewordveryrich,toobigCategoriesPhrasecategoriesandtheirstructuresSyntacticunitsthatarebuiltaroundacertainwordcategoryarecalledphrases,thecategoryofwhichisdeterminedbythewordcategoryaroundwhichthephraseisbuilt.InEnglishsyntacticanalysis,themostcommonlyrecognizedanddiscussedphrasalcategoriesarenounphrase(NP),verbphrase(VP),adjectivephrase(AP)andprepositionalphrase(PP).CategoriesWhetherformedofoneormorethanoneword,theyconsistoftwolevels,Phraselevelandwordlevelasexemplifiedbelow.NPVPAPPP←phraselevel||||NVAP←wordlevelCategoriesPhrasesthatareformedofmorethanonewordusuallycontainthefollowingelements:head(中心语),specifier(标志语)andcomplement(补语).Thewordaroundwhichaphraseisformedistermedhead.Thewordsontheleftsideoftheheadsaresaidtofunctionasspecifiers.Thewordsontherightsideoftheheadsarecomplements.PhraseStructure[NPthebooks][VPnevereat][APquitecertain][PPalmostin]Suchwordsasdeterminerthe,qualifiernever,degreewordsquiteoralmostaresaidtobefunctionasspecifiers.PhrasestructureruleThespecialtypeofgrammaticalmechanismthatregulatesthearrangementofelementsthatmakeupaphraseiscalledaphrasestructurerule.ThephrasestructuralruleforNP,VP,AP,andPPcanbewrittenasfollows:NP→(Det)N(PP)…VP→(Qual)V(NP)…AP→(Deg)A(PP)…PP→(Deg)P(NP)…Thearrowcanbereadas“consistof”or“branchesinto”.Theparenthesesmeanthattheelementinthemcanbeomittedandthethreedotsineachruleindicatethatothercomplementoptionsareavailable.PhrasestructureruleExamples:aphraseconsistingofaspecifier,ahead,andacomplement1.VPQualVNPneverdrinkthewaterPhrasestructurerule2.phraseconsistingofaheadandcomplementPPPNPOnthefloorPhrasestructurerule3.phraseconsistingofaspecifierandaheadNPDetNthemanPhrasestructurerule4.phraseconsistingofjustaheadVPV(Theboys)arrivedPhrasestructureruleXPruleTheXPrule:XP→(specifier)X(complement)XPSpecifierXcomplementheadX¯Theorya.XP→(Specifier)X¯b.X¯→X(complement)ThefirstrulestipulatesthatXPcategoriessuchasNPandVPconsistofanoptionalspecifier(adeterminer,aqualifier,andsoforth)andanX¯.ThesecondrulestatesthatanX¯consistsofahead,X,andanycomplements.PhrasestructureruleCoordinationruleThecoordinationrulecanbeformulatedasbelow:X→X*ConXInthisrulethesymbolXstandsfor“acategoryatanystructurallevel”,indicatingthateitheranXoranXPcanbecoordinated.Theasterisk(*)indicatesthatoneormorecategoriescanoccurtotheleftoftheCon(=conjunction).PhraseelementsSpecifierSpecifiershavebothspecialsemanticandsyntacticroles.Semantically,theyhelpmakemoreprecisethemeaningofthehead.Syntactically,theytypicallymarkaphraseboundary.Specifierscanbedeterminers,qualifiersanddegreewordsaswell.PhraseelementsComplementsAswehaveseen,complementsarethemselvesphrasesandprovideinformationaboutentitiesandlocationswhoseexistenceisimpliedbythemeaningofthehead.TheyareattachedtotherightoftheheadinEnglish.TheXPRule(revised):XP→(Specifier)X(Complement*)Thisrulealsocapturesthesimplebutimportantfactthatcomplements,howevermanythereare,occurtotherightoftheheadinEnglish.PhraseelementsWordswhichintroducethesentencecomplementaretermedcomplementizers(shortenedasCs).Thesentenceintroducedbythecompementizeriscalledacomplementc