Chapter 2

Phrase Structure

Syntactic Structure

Dominance 支配：上下關係

S

NP

N

AUX

VP

Det

The

Men

Will

V

NP

Shoot

Det

N

the

arrows

PP

P

NP

at

Det

N

each

other

Tree Structure

Node 節點

▲直屬關係：Immediately Dominance

Precedence 前後序位：同層次結構

▲由於詞序關係(Word order)

產生前後關係

E.g.NP ‘the men’ precedes the VP predicate

Branching Node：可繼續向下分解

Non Branching Node：無法繼續分解

• Non-terminal symbol
• Phrase level

• Terminal symbol
• Word level

Sister Nodes

Mother Nodes

Syntactic Structure

NP

N

AUX

Det

The

Men

Will

V

NP

Shoot

Det

N

the

arrows

PP

P

NP

at

Det

N

each

other

Governors are heads.

Government（管轄）

1. A is a governor

​

• A and B are sisters.

A governs B if

Head

Complement

Transitive

verb

object

If X is a head and it governs Y then X head-governs Y.

When a head governs an element and assigns an internal theta role to it, the head is said to theta-governs that element.

Notes about Headness

1. determine distribution 句法分布

2. trigger agreement

3. are semantically important

Head-govern:

Theta-govern:

NP

AUX

VP

Governs

All the constituents governed by a node constitute the governing domain of that node.

Governing domain:

S

The Structure of Phrases：��

• Flat VP

無法展現出層次及其親疏關係，較不適合

Because some constituents are more closely related than they are to others.

The Verb Phrases

The Structure of Phrases：�The Verb Phrases�

• Layered VP： is hierarchically organized

較Flat VP更能表現彼此關係

Intermediate projection of V

Maximal projection of V

the maximal VP

optional的結構，在一個句子中可出現多個adjuncts

Adjunct

they combine with a V′ to form another V′.

The Structure of Phrases：�The Verb Phrases�

從p.91, 15a-e可以看出什麼？該如何定位’all’的syntactic position？

• ‘all’是VP結構裏的一部份。
• 結構上，’all’是獨立於V′之外的（亦即：不屬於V′的一部分）。
• ‘all’在VP裏只能出現一個。’All’ is a quantifier, it is not recursive in a VP.

⇒ 結論：The position occupied by the quantifier ‘all’ is the specifier position. The specifier dominated by VP is represented as [Spec, VP].

上述的VP schema 只能解釋有verb-complement詞序的語言，如：英語。然而，參考p.95, 22a-c，VP詞序與英與不同，因此，為了適用於兩種不同詞序的語言，PS rules 需稍加改變

The Structure of Phrases：�The Verb Phrases�

Extending the proposal: for reasons of economy, a theory which has one generalized schema for phrasal categories of various types is to be preferred to one in which distinct phrases are constructed on the basis of different schemata.

Parametric Variation and Word-order:

The word-order variation is an instance of parametric variation. English verbs assign theta roles to its right while Japanese verbs assign theta roles to its left.

VP → Spec ； V

V → V ； Adjunct (Adjunct Rule)

V → V； Complement (Complement Rule)

VP → Spec - V′

V′ → V′ - Adjunct (Adjunct Rule)

V′ → V – Complement (Complement Rule)

Schema for English VPs:

The Structure of Phrases：��

The Noun Phrases

The investigation of the corpse after lunch was less horrible than the one after dinner.

Q：What does one substitute for in the above sentence?

The Structure of Phrases：�The Noun Phrases�

• The specifier of NP, a determiner, combines with the topmost N′

to form the maximal projection, NP.

adjunct

projection dominates

The head & it’s complement

• An adjunct combines with N′ to form another N′.

Notes about Adjunct

1. an optional or secondary element

2. typically a PP or relative clause

adjunct

adjunct

The Structure of Phrases：��

The Noun Phrases

NP → Spec ; N′

N′ → N′ ; XP (Adjunct)

N′ → N ; XP (Complement)

In order to allow for cross-linguistic variation in word-order, a very general phrase structure schema is sketched by the following NP PS rules.

In English, the head noun precedes its complement and adjuncts, but this is not a universal property.

Adjective Phrases

The Structure of Phrases：��

• The layered analysis of VP and NP can be extended to distinguish different levels of projection.
• The order of the AP constituents varies corss-linguistically.
• In English, adjectives may precede their complements, while in German, they may follow them.

a two-place predicate

the second argument

Prepositional Phrases

The Structure of Phrases：��

Prepositions usually require an NP complement. In Japanese, elements corresponding to English prepositions follow their complements and are referred to as postpositions.

X-Bar theory

The Structure of Phrases：��

X-bar Schema：

X-bar theory brings out what is common in the structure of phrases.

XP → Spec ; X′

X′ → X′ ; YP (Adjunct)

X′ → X; YP (Complement)

X-bar constraints:

​

1. Endocentricity: every phrase（XP） has only one head（X or X⁰）.

​

• Locality: the relations between X and its complement / specifiers can all be defined within the maximal projection XP.

Notes to X-bar system:

1. In the X-bar system, “specifier”, “adjunct” and “complement” are derivative notions.
2. The X-bar schema does not specify linear precedence. The latter is to be fixed on a language-by language basis by the head parameter (English: head-initial, spec-initial; Japanese: head-final, spec-initial).

The Structure of Sentence：�

They will wonder [whether Poirot will abandon the investigation].

If S′ is a projection of S, then it is an odd projection:

​

• In the X-bar schema, phrasal projections project from their heads, heads are typically terminal nodes. Even though S′ is a projection of S, it is not a terminal node.
• S′ and S are not endocentric categories for they are not projections of heads.

(In fact, they are exocentric categories.)

The structure of sentences: S is a projection of INFL; S′ is a projection of C.

Projection of INFL

Projection of C

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Aux and Tense

• It is reasonable to argue that S is headed by the constituent indicated by Aux because it is the only terminal node under S. If this is the case, then what to do with the sentences without overt auxiliary?

E.g. Poirot abandoned the investigation.

• At a more abstract level of representation, the inflectional element tense cannot be part of the VP, but must be generated separately from it. The tense morpheme is dominated by a separate terminal node INFL.

Evidences:

1. Abandon the investigation, Poirot did indeed. (NP is preposed, the past tense morpheme –ed is left behind on an auxiliary did.)
2. What Poirot did was abandon the investigation. (VP ‘abandon the investigation’ is separated off from its past tense morpheme.)

Spec 發生於 phrase structure

Comp發生於clause structure

S as a Projection of INFL

Agreement

INFL is a node which is taken to contain all verbal inflection

i.e. including person and number properties.

Though the overt realization of agreement for person and number is restricted in English, we assume that there is an abstract agreement, AGR, which is often not morphologically realized.

The Structure of Sentence ：� S as a Projection of INFL�

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Infinitival Clauses

Infinitives (infinitival clauses) 與tensed clauses (finite clauses)

最明顯的差異為infinitive不表現tense。

Tensed Clause的INFL feature為 [+Tense] [+AGR]

Infinitive的INFL feature為 [-Tense] [-AGR]

S as a Projection of INFL

• Verbal inflection
• Infinitival to
• Aspectual auxiliaries
• modals

The Structure of Sentence ：��

The Structure of IP

Subject = [Spec, IP]

The category INFL dominates material such as:

The projection of I is IP：

The subject of a sentence

The specifier position

occupies

The I′ projection

combines with

IP

form

S as a Projection of INFL

A-position and A′-position

The Structure of Sentence ：��

並非所有佔住argument position的東西都是argument，expletive (it, there)就是一個例外。

​

S as a Projection of INFL

The Structure of IP

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S as a Projection of INFL

The Structure of IP

• 為lexical head所project出的，

​

所以有argument structure。（VP）

• 為functional head所project出的

​

沒有argument structure

也不能assign any theta role。（CP, IP）

Lexical projection:

Functional projection:

Modal, Aspect, Aux., Tense, Agreement Marker.

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S′ as a Projection of C

C as the Head of CP

The two clauses are introduced by different complementizers (C).

What is the difference between the two subordinate clauses?

I will ask [if [Poirot will abandon his investigation]].

I will say [that [Poirot will abandon his investigation]].

In English, there are four complementizers that introduce subordinate clauses：

that, if, whether, for.

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S′ as a Projection of C

Complementizers and their IP-complements:

C as the Head of CP

The notion that the initial position of a clause is characterized by a complementizer position COMP is introduced by Bresnan (1970, 1972)

​

Head-to-head Movement

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S′ as a Projection of C

Movement from one head position to another one.

Head-to-head Movement

通常含助動詞的句子，在形成問句時，都須經歷這個過程。

任何有經過移動變位的句子結構。

Underlying Structure：

Derived Structure：

未經任何移動或變形的句子結構

The Structure of CP

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S′ as a Projection of C

可以出現在C的成分：

完整的CP結構圖如下：

（1）complementizers

（2）a moved Aux (from I )

可以出現在 [Spec, CP] 的成分：

interrogative constituents

（[+wh]）

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S′ as a Projection of C

Small Clauses

1. I consider [Maigret very intelligent]. （AP predicate）

2. Maigret considers [the taxi driver an important ally].（NP predicate）

3. I consider [your proposal completely out of the question].（PP predicate）

The bracketed strings are constituents traditionally called verbless clauses; now we called them small clauses.

Types of clauses:

(1) tensed clauses (finite clauses)

(2) infinitival clauses

(3) small clauses

​

• Small clauses與其他的clauses最大的不同點在於small clauses連I的位置都沒有，infinitival至少還有to在I的位置。

• 從法語的例子裏（p.125, 64a-d）可以看出small clause應有AGR head which dominates agreement morphology.

The Structure of Sentence ：��

S′ as a Projection of C

Small Clauses

Small Clause 的結構：

• The subject of the small clause occupies the specifier position of AGRP, [Spec, AGRP]

What about “as” as in the following sentence?

I consider [him as my best friend].

​

The ‘as’ seems to spell out the head of the small clause.

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Structural Relations

dominance; precedence; government; command

Structural relations:

Agreement Patterns

Specifier-head agreement:

NP Agreement

Head and specifier share features such as number, gender, person, [±wh].

所有的agreement都在specifier與head的位置做，亦即agreement表現在specifier與head之間。

​

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Structural Relations

Agreement Patterns

IP Agreement

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Structural Relations

Agreement Patterns

CP Agreement

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Structural Relations

C-command

A does not dominate B and every X that dominates A also dominates B.

The first branching node

The c-command domain of node A.

1. A does not dominate B and B does not dominate A

​

• The first branching node dominating A also dominates B.

C-command (i)

Node A c-commands node B if and only if

C-command (ii)

Node A c-commands node B if and only if

注意：

c-command的關係是一種two-way relation，上圖中的A c-commands B; B c-commands A.

​

The Structure of Sentence ：��

Structural Relations

Government

maximal projection

注意：X如果為

• first branching node 則為 c-command關係
• Maximal projection 則為 m-command關係

​

governees

governor

(a head)

govern

Government(i)

A is a governor; and A c-commands B and B c-commands A.

A governs B if and only if

Government(ii)

proposed by Chomsky

• A is a governor
• and A m-commands B;
• and no barrier intervenes between A and B.
• Maximal projections are barriers to government. Governors are heads

References�

• Bresnan, J. W. (1970). On complementizers: Tward a syntactic theory of complement types. Foundations of Language 6, 297-321.
• Bresnan, J. W. (1972). Theory of complementation in English syntax. Doctoral dissertation, MIT. (New York: Garland, 1979.)

​