Introduction to Syntax, LINGUIST 401Feb 10, 2005Assignment 2: Introducing Constituency1 Topicalization as a Constituency TestConstituency is one of the most fundamental concepts in natural language syntax. Constituentsare the building blocks of sentences. Our ability to break sentences up into smaller, simplerchunks is essential for our ability to understand sentences we have never heard before (whichis something we do all the time — you’re doing it right now). Constituency tests - i.e. tests thatallow us to determine the constituent structure of a sentence - are therefore essential componentof any syntactician’s toolbox. In this assignment, we will examine one such test.English permits us to perform an operation that I’ll call topicalization. (It is sometimes called‘fronting’ or ‘preposing’.) Here are a few examples, with the topicalized constituents underlined:(1) a. Bagels, I like. Hot dogs, I can’t stand.b. I’ll accept that pigs can fly. That they have a language, I just can’t believe.c. Until 10:30 pm, the party raged on.Topicalization forms the basis for a useful constituency test:(T) Hypothesis: A string of wordsXcan be topicalized in a sentenceSif, and only if,Xis aconstituent inS.According to hypothesis (T), we will never find a string of words that is a constituent but doesn’ttopicalize, and we will never find something topicalized that is not a constituent.Your task Assess hypothesis (T)bytopicalizing the underlined portions of the examplesin 1–2f:(2) a. I could sell my psychology textbookon the black market.b. I could sell my psychology textbook on the black market.c. I could sell my psychology textbook on the black market.d. I could sell my psychologytextbook on the black market.e. I could sell my psychology textbook on theblack market.f. I could sell my psychology textbook on the black market.For each example, provide the topicalized version and answer at least the following questionsabout it:1. Is it grammatical?2. If it is grammatical, what can we conclude about the underlined phrase, based on (T)?3. If it is ungrammatical, what can we conclude about the underlined phrase, based on (T)?Topicalization is context dependent: you need to make the meaning of your topicalized element atopic of discussion, else the results are likely to sound strange. You can reliably make somethinginto a topic by contrasting it with a preceding element in the discourse. For instance, in example1a, I contrast bagels with hot dogs. In example 1b, I contrast that pigs can fly with that they have alanguage.I encourage you to test hypothesis (T) using sentences of your own devising. This is not requiredbut will lead to better understanding of this test.You might find that hypothesis (T) has exceptions. If you see a way to revise the hypothesis so asto bring it in line with the exceptions, please note