Syntax 3

Syntax 3Nov 13, 2015 – DAY 33

Brain & LanguageLING 4110-4890-5110-7960NSCI 4110-4891-6110Fall 2015

What do we celebrate today?

Triskaidekaphobia!

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Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University

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Course organization

Schedule:http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t1-Intro.html#schedule-of-topicsToday's chapter:http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t19-aIFG.htmlFun with https://www.facebook.com/BrLg15/Quiz before Thanksgiving will be in class & on Blackboard.

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Grades

Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7MIN6554734AVG9.08.88.88.49.27.58.7MAX10101010101010

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Combinatorial net 2

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The lexical interface

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A fragment of a grammar of English

S → NP VPNP → proper noun, like Mary or JohnVP → V NPNP → Det N, where Det is one of {a(n), the, some}VP → V PPPP → P NP, where P is one of {on, in, at, by, etc.}

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Examples

[S [NP Mary] [VP kissed [NP John]]]

[S [NP a cat] [VP is [PP on [NP the couch]]]]

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S

NP

Mary

V

P

V

kissed

NP

John

S

NP

a cat

V

P

V

is

PP

on NP

NP

the couch

Parsing: start with the first word“A cat is on the couch.”

A – what do we know about it?Determiner, indefinite, singular = Lexical Access and Feature Retrieval (LAFR)What does our grammar tell us about a determiner (Det)?It is followed by a noun, so let’s look for one to the right.And by the way, it should be singular, to agree with the determiner.Cat – what do we know about it?Noun, singular (LAFR)We also know a lot about the meaning of ‘cat’, but this theory of syntax assumes that meaning is not relevant to the parse.What does our grammar tell us about Det+N?That they form an NP, so let’s merge them into one:[NP [Det a] [N cat]] What does our grammar tell us about NP?It is followed by a (tensed) verb, so let’s seek one to the right.Do the rest of the derivation yourself.

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Thematic roles

AGENTEXPERIENCERTHEME/PATIENTGOALSOURCELOCATIONRECIPIENTINSTRUMENT

Effects the action.Experiences the action (usually an emotion).Undergoes the actionPlace towards which the action goes.Place from which the action originates.Place in which the action takes place.Entity which receives something.Entity with which the action is effected.

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Sentence types

Usual vs. pragmatically unusual active sentences:The cop arrested the teenagers. The teenagers arrested the cop. Usual vs. pragmatically unusual passive sentences:The dog bit the postman.The dog was bitten by the postmanReversible active sentences:The dancer applauded the actor.The actor applauded the dancer.Reversible passive sentences:The actor was applauded by the dancer.The dancer was applauded by the actor.

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Conclusions

It may be that agrammatic aphasiacs rely on a rule of thumb (heuristic) based on the canonical word order of English or other frequent coincidences:The NP which precedes the verb is assigned the thematic role of AGENT.The NP which follows the preposition by is assigned the thematic role of AGENT.How they help(a) helps agrammatic aphasiacs understand reversible active sentences.(a) and (b) conflict in reversible passive sentences, so agrammatic aphasiacs do worse (they guess).

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syntax 3

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Complex sentences: Clefting

CleftingThe monkey chased the frog.It was the monkey that chased the frog. –– cleft subject, cf (8)It was the frog that the monkey chased. –– cleft object, cf (8)Which one should be more difficult for agrammatic aphasiacs?(9) 100% correct(10) 33% correct

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Complex sentences: Ellipsis

11) The elephant hit the rabbit and … hugged the bear.NP1 V NP2 … V NP312) The elephant that … hit the rabbit hugged the bear.NP1 … V NP2 V NP313) The elephant hit the rabbit that … hugged the bear.NP1 V NP2 … V NP314) The elephant that the rabbit hit … hugged the bear.NP1 NP2 V … V NP315) The elephant hit the rabbit that the bear chased ….NP1 V NP2 NP3 V …

Ellipsis makes language more economical, but for full semantic interpretation, the elided material must be recovered.Which roles should be most difficult for agrammatic aphasiacs?AGENT of the first verb?RECIPIENT/THEME of the first verb?AGENT of the second verb?RECIPIENT/THEME of the second verb?

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A part-of-speech or morphological ambiguity

(22) Flying planes can be dangerous.[NP [Adj flying] [N planes]] can be dangerousFlying planes are dangerous.[NP [VP [V flying] [NP planes]]] can be dangerousFlying planes is dangerous.

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My favorite attachment or syntactic ambiguity

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.What an elephant was doing in my pajamas, I'll never know.I [[shot an elephant] in my pajamas]I shot an [[elephant] in my pajamas]

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A diagram of the difference

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S

NP

I

VP

PP

in my pajamas

V

shot

N

P

an elephant

S

NP

I

VP

V

shot

NP

Det

an

N

elephant

PP

in my pajamas

Minimal attachment principle

Avoid unnecessary embedding (i.e. attach an element as high in the tree as possible).Now let's look at a lot more examples.

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Another attachment ambiguity

the house on the hill by the seaWhat is by the sea?the [[house on the hill] by the sea]<the house is on the hill and the house is by the sea>the house on the [[hill] by the sea]<the house is on the hill and the hill is by the sea>Which reading did you get first?

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A diagram of the difference

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NP

D

et

the

Nhouse

P

on

NP

PP

Det

the

NP

PP

by the sea

N

hill

PP

by the sea

NP

D

et

the

NP

N

house

PP

on the hill

More examples of ambiguous sentences

Paraphrase how you understand this sentence (but do not say it out loud!):(25) John told the girl that Bill liked the story.(27) John told the story to the girl that Bill liked.= relative clause readingJohn told the girl [S that Bill liked] the story(26) John told the girl something – namely, that Bill liked the story. = sentential complement readingJohn told the girl [S that Bill liked the story]

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A diagram of the difference

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S

NP

John

V

P

V

told

N

Pthe girl

S

that Bill liked the story

S

NP

John

V

P

V

told

NP

NP

the

story

Det

the

N

girl

S

that Bill

liked

Testing minimal attachment

Paraphrase how you understand these sentences:(28) Joe carried the package for Susan.Joe carried [the package] [for Susan]Joe carried [the package for Susan](29) Joe included the package for Susan.Joe included [the package] [for Susan]Joe included [the package for Susan]Which of these obey minimal attachment?

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Attachment of for Susan

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S

NP

Joe

V

P

V

carried

/included

NPthe package

PP

for Susan

S

NP

Joe

V

P

V

carried

/

included

NP

Det

the

N

package

PP

for Susan

A different kind of problem

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The old man the boat

.

The

man whistling tunes pianos

.

The

cotton clothing is made of grows in Mississippi

.

The

complex houses married and single soldiers and their families

.

The

author wrote the novel was likely to be a best-seller

.

The

tomcat curled up on the cushion seemed friendly.

What does it mean to lead someone down the garden path?

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms says that the negative connotation of ‘leading someone down the garden path’ is “based on the idea that a path in a garden is very pleasant, so someone who is brought along it can be deceived without noticing it.”

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The second most famous sentence in linguistics

The horse raced past the barn fell.

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Final project

Improve a Wikipedia article about any of the topics mentioned in class or any other topic broadly related to neurolinguistics.Write a short essay explaining what you did and why you did it.Print the article before you improve it, highlighting any subtractions. Print the article after you improve it, highlighting your additions.

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NEXT TIME

Q9More syntax

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