Syntax 1 – Phrase StructureThe Movement TestSelf-Assessment - Exercise 1:Self-Assessment - Exercise 2:Self-Assessment - Exercise 3:Phrase Structure RulesSelf-Assessment - Exercise 4:DerivationsSelf-Assessment - Exercise 5:Tree Diagrams and Labeled BracketingSelf-Assessment - Exercise 5:RecursionAmbiguitySelf-Assessment - Exercise 7:Hierarchical Structure and Pronoun ReferenceSelf-Assessment - Exercise 8:Universal GrammarSyntax 1 – Phrase StructureIn the lecture on Plato's problem in the previous module, we pointed out that the stream of speech is a continuum in the physical acoustic record. You can get a sense of the physical continuum by looking at the acoustic record in a sound spectrographic recording of speech or, more simply, by listening to people who are speaking a language that you do not know. In the latter case see if you can hear breaks between phrases and words. Probably not. Theanalysis of the stream of speech into phrases, words and individual sounds is all done in the mind of the speaker that knows the language and is done by the speaker's internalized grammar. Since this analysis is neither taught nor learned, we assume it is built in or innate in the language faculty in the mind. Since the analysis is not consciously done by the speaker, to study it we must develop some tools of analysis. We will begin by looking at howwe might identify the phrasal constituents in sentences.The Movement Test In looking at the jungle ahead of them, hunters on safari will not see the tiger until it moves. This movement will not only pick out the tiger from the trees and brush, but if the tiger moves back into another part of the jungle, it will also identify the area it has moved around.Similarly, in looking at sentences, if something moves it not only picks itself out as a moveable unit (the tiger) in the sentence, but it identifies the unit (of jungle) it moves around. Consider the examples in (1) and (2).1. John can swim.2. Can John swim?Sentences (1) and (2) are related as statement and question. Let us assume that the question in (2) is derived from the statement in (1) by movement of can around John. If we add a few more examples with will, may, must, should, etc., we find that they all move around John in the same way to derive questions from statements.Self-Assessment - Exercise 1:Try it right now. Construct pairs of sentences like (1) and (2) with will, may, must, should, etc., in place of can.If we posit a rule that inverts the first two words in a sentence to form a question, it will work for (1) and (2), and presumably for the sentences you created in the exercise above. However it will not work for sentences like those that follow.3. The man can swim.4. The man in the canoe can swim.5. The man who lives upstairs can swim.6. The man and the woman can swim.Self-Assessment - Exercise 2:Try it right now. Construct corresponding questions for (3-6) above by moving can. Assure yourself that will, must, etc. move in the same way that can does in these sentences.With these several examples, we have identified two units in sentences. Call the unit that moves an auxiliary (AUX), and the unit it moves around a noun phrase (NP). We can also identify the unit left behind to the right of the AUX. Call what is left behind a verb phrase (VP). We can see in (7) and (8) that VP can consist of more than one word.7. John will swim the English Channel.8. The man who lives upstairs can drive a truck.Self-Assessment - Exercise 3:Try it right now. Construct corresponding questions for (7-8) by moving the AUX aroundthe NP. Identify the NP and the VP that is left behind.Phrase Structure RulesNow we are in position to set out the phrase structure (PS) rules for the constituents identified so far. We start with sentence (S). 9. S --> NP AUX VP10. AUX --> can, will, may, must, etc.We have seen that the NP is the constituent that the Aux inverts with to form a question. That is, the rule is structure dependent, It cannot be defined on the number of words, but must be defined on structures. A test for the constituent NP is to put it at the front of a sentence followed by an AUX and see if the AUX can move around it to the beginning of thesentence to form a question. There are other tests to determine if a constituent is NP. Try substituting a pronoun (he, she, it) for the whole constituent. If you can the constituent is an NP.Self-Assessment - Exercise 4:Try it right now. For all the NPs in the preceding examples, see if you can replace them with a pronoun in both the statement and the question.From what we have seen to this point an NP can consist of a proper noun (John), or a pronoun (PRO), or a determiner (DET) and noun (N) – the man, or DET + N + PP (prepositional phrase) – the man in the canoe, or DET + N + S – the man who lives upstairs. We will call who lives upstairsan S. It is also called a relative clause where who is a relative pronoun that in this case has substituted for the subject the man. We can now spell out the phrase structure rules that expand the NP.11. NP --> N, PRO, DET N, DET N PP, DET N STurning to the VP, we find it consists of a verb (V) such as swim, V and NP such as drive a truck, or even V and S such as think John can swimas in:12. The man who lives upstairs will think John can swim.Thus, the VP is expanded as follows:13. VP --> V, V NP, V SFinally, the PP consists of a P (preposition) such as in, to, at, etc. and NP. Thus, PP is expanded as follows:14. PP --> P NPWe now have a set of PS rules that can generate all the sentences we have looked at so far. We only need a lexicon that can insert words for N, DET, P, V to generate additional sentences. Rule (10) is an example of a rule that inserts words for the category AUX.Derivations A derivation applying the PS rules in the order given would look like the following:15. Example (15) represents a derivation of a sentence by applying PS rules. Each line of the derivation represents the application of one rule.Self-Assessment - Exercise 5:Try it yourself. Generate a sentence top down by applying the phrase structures rules developed so far. If you run into problems bring them up in the discussion session.Tree Diagrams and Labeled BracketingThe derivation in (15) can be represented in a tree diagram as follows:16. Or, it can be represented by a bracketed string, where the brackets are paired and have category labels.17. [S [NP [DET the] [N man]] [AUX can] [VP [V swim]] ]Self-Assessment - Exercise 5:Try it