4. DEFINITION
A phrase is a group of words that does
not have a subject or a verb.
For example:
Eating a peach
Under the teacher‟s desk
After seeing the Taj Mahal
To buy a new phone
5. General Approach
Universal Grammar (UG) / Language Instinct
Data
Native speakers‟ intuitions (acceptability
judgments)
Resulting Theory of Grammar
Words, phrases, categories for words and phrases
(e.g. nouns, verbs, noun phrases, verb phrases)
(basic concepts any theory of grammar must have
in order to capture the data)
6. 1) Every word belongs to a lexical category
2) Lexical categories forms heads of phrases
3) How phrases are formed is governed by rules
(= „phrase structure rules‟)
7. Rules that determine…
what goes into a phrase („constituents‟)
how the constituents are ordered
Constituent: a word or group of words that
function as a unit and can make up larger
grammatical units
The component that determines the properties
of the constituent is the head, and the
constituent can be referred to as a phrase: e.g.
noun phrase
“noun phrases have a Det and a N”
NP Det N
8. 1. S NP VP
2. NP {Det N, Pro, PN}
3. VP V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
4. PP P NP
5. AP A (PP)
9. • NP (Det) N
• PP P NP
The boy (NP)
The
NDet
boy
the boy in the yard
NP
The
NDet
boy
PP
in
NPP
the
Det N
yard
10. In P
from a boy in a bubble P NP
Phrase structure rule for PPs:
PP P (NP)
11. PP PP
P P NP
in from Det N PP
a boy P NP
in Det N
a bubble
12. “Verb phrases have a V, (sometimes) an NP, and
(sometimes) a PP”
VP -> V (NP) (PP)
sang
ate the cake
ate the cake hungrily
sang a song in the shower
fell into the pond slowly
Phrase structure rule for VPs:
VP V (NP) (PP) (Adv)
13. VP VP VP
V V NP V NP PP Adv
sang ate Det N sang Det N P NP badly
the cake a song in Det N
the shower
