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Ling 101 Final
Ling 101 Final
64
Literature
Undergraduate 1
12/05/2013

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Term
Syntax
Definition
study of how words are formed into phrases, and phrases into sentences. For words are not randomly combined.
Term
Syntactic rules
Definition
govern how words may be combined into larger units. Just like morphology & phonology in regards to sound combinations.
Term
Predicate
Definition
every clause is organized around a predicate; syntactic subject in English.
Term
Nina giggled
Definition
[SUBJ Nina]
Term
Predicates that only have a subject are called
Definition
intransitive predicate.
Term
Intransitive predicates like giggle have one argument:
Definition
there must be a giggler. Nina is the giggler.
Term
Intransitive predicates with 1 subject are described as
Definition
monovalent.
Term
Intransitive examples
Definition
1.  [SUBJ Nina] giggled.[SUBJ The baby] cried. [SUBJ A large dog that lives down the street] howled.
Term
Syntax
Definition
verbs with no arguments
Term
Some predicates have no arguments, but
Definition
They still require a subject
Term
dummy subject
Definition
no semantic meaning. BUT, English needs a subject of SOME sort. So we use 'it' when there is nothing else.
Term
Many languages do not require a
Definition
subject though…
Term
Transitive
Definition
verbs that describe events with 2 NP participants.
Term
Bivalent
Definition
verbs that have 2 arguments Ie., Alec petted the puppy
Term
Objects
Definition
second argument is a structural syntactic position that follows the verb in English.
Term
BOTH NP arguments
Definition
MUST be expressed.
Term
Trivalent/Ditransitive verbs
Definition
have 3 arguments
Term
Trivanent/Ditransitive Generally describe an event of
Definition
transfer/harm.
Term
Indirect object
Definition
precedes direct object Ie., [SUBJ Mimi] lent [IO Johnny] [OBJ her favourite pen] 2.  [SUBJ Johnny] sent [IO Santa] [OBJ a letter]
Term
Some ditransitive verbs have a
Definition
subject, object, and oblique object.
Term
Oblique object
Definition
NPs that are introduces by prepositions like in, for, or to. Generally follows the object.
Term
Syntax generalizations in intransitive clauses
Definition
[S_Nina] burped & S-V word order.
Term
Syntax generalizations In transitive clauses:
Definition
[S_Nina] belched [O_ the national anthem] & Subject-Verb-Object word order
Term
Syntax generalizations In distransitive clauses
Definition
[S_Nina] blew [IO_me] [O_a kiss] & Subject-Verb-Indirect Object-Object word order
Term
Syntax generalizations In ditransitive clauses with an oblique (X)
Definition
Nina placed her lambie in the toiled & Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique word order
Term
Syntax generalizations
Definition
Intransitive – S-V, Transitive – S-V-O, Ditranstitive – S-V-IO-O, Ditransitive – S-V-O-X
Term
Generally refer to the transitive word order as the
Definition
order of ANY given language. Thus, English is an SVO language.
Term
Case
Definition
Another way to identify the subject, object, or direct object. Done with a case marker
Term
Case marker
Definition
morpheme added to a noun-phrase to indicate its subject, object, etc.
Term
Case in English
Definition
Very few remnants left over; seen only in pronouns. Suppletive forms of I & Me
Term
Case in Japanese
Definition
Some languages have more regular case marking, where word order can be more free. This is because case marking will tell us what the subject or object is, even if word order is messed.
Term
Japan has 3 cases
Definition
Nominative – ga marks subjects, Accusative – o marks subjects, Dative – ni marks indirect objects
Term
Case as null
Definition
One case marking may be null (Ø).Russian uses this – nominative case is marked by finding the noun phrase that has no pronounced case ending.
Term
Nominative case system
Definition
used when subjects are always marked with same case, regardless of whether they are subjects of transitive or intransitive verbs.
Term
Some languages have a split ergative system:
Definition
some subjects follow a nominative/accusative patters, and some a ergative and absolutive pattern like Tongan
Term
Nom/Acc systems use
Definition
the same case marker, regardless of transivity
Term
Erg/Abs use
Definition
the same case marker for intransitive subjects and objects. Transitive subjects have a special case.
Term
In both systems case allows the possibility for
Definition
freer word order of subjects, objects, etc.
Term
Agreement in English
Definition
Most common type of agreement anywhere is subject agreement.
Term
English has a very limited form of
Definition
subject agreement. It is only for 3rd person singular objects, and present (habitual) tense verbs.
Term
Many languages have a complete agreement paradigm;
Definition
all subject forms, and for all tenses, triggers an agreement marker on the verb.
Term
Complete agreement paradigm languages
Definition
have this sort of agreement paradigm, it is often possible to leave the subject unexpressed. Information can be recovered about the subject from the verb agreement, and this enables speakers to leave out a subject!
Term
Gender agreement
Definition
Some languages have agreement for GENDER of subject. Ie, Russian.
Term
In many languages, verbs may agree with both
Definition
subject and object in transitive sentences. For example, in Spokan Salish, a 3rd person subject is marked with a –es suffix and singular with a kwu- prefix
Term
Syntactic Alternations
Definition
We can alter our syntax to reflect changes in voice, such as the active or passive forms.
Term
Passive clauses are used to syntactically
Definition
“suppress the agent of an event”, so they are typically used by politicians to avoid responsibility.
Term
Passive clause agents
Definition
can be express, but is often left out. I made poor decisions [active] vs. Poor decisions were made [passive]
Term
Passives (like all English sentences) require a
Definition
subject. But the passive operation make for a different NP.
Term
Question formatio alternation
Definition
Grammatical relations are preserved, but word order is altered. This is because wh-words typically appear at the left edge of the clause. Ie., Bill devoured an enormous turkey VS. What did Bill devour?
Term
Wh-question formation is seen as a
Definition
syntactic operation that involves syntactic movement.
Term
Lexical categories
Definition
Nouns (dog) Verbs (eat) Adjectives (tall) Adverbs (slowly)
Term
Functional categories
Definition
Prepositions (in, to, under) Articles (a, an, the), Auxiliaries (will, should, must), Conjunctions (and, or, but)
Term
Identifying word-classes: syntactic criteria
Definition
Nouns can be introduced by a determiners (articles) Determiners = a, an, the, this, that, these, those, every. These classify nouns or identify them as unknown. Nouns can be inflected for the plural
Term
Identifying nouns: syncretic theory
Definition
Contexts of identification for nouns. Det___, Adjective ___, ___ -plural. Type of substitution test; anything that can occur on its own after the determiner must be a noun.
Term
Identifying verbs: syncretic criteria
Definition
Verbs can be introduced by auxiliaries, Verbs can be modified by adverbs, Verbs can be inflected for tense (morphological test)
Term
Auxiliaries
Definition
will, would, can, could, may might. Used with verbs to classify actions and states.
Term
Contexts of identification for verbs
Definition
Auxiliary ___ - I WILL walk, ___ Adverb – I walk SLOWLY, Adverb___ - I USUALLY walk, ___-tense – I walk-ED
Term
Contexts of identification for adjectives:
Definition
Determiner ___ noun – THE tall TREE, Degree word___ - REALLY tall, Subject + be + ___ - THE RAT IS smart, ___ -est – tall-EST, ___ -er – tall-ER
Term
Identifying word classes: adverbs
Definition
Occur as verb modifiers, Walked SLOWLY, left YESTERDAY
Term
Contexts of identification for aVerbs
Definition
can be inflected for tense (morphological test)V___ - WALKED slowly, AUX ___ V – (will) NEVER surrender, ___ ADJ – extremely HAPPY, ___ ADV – extremely QUICKLY
Term
Constituent
Definition
group of elements behaving as a unit
Term
A syntactic constituents is a
Definition
syntactic unit
Term
A constituency test is a way to
Definition
identify constituents
Term
Substitution tests
Definition
identify syntactic constituent
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