Evidence for phrases.

1. Native-speaker Intuitions
• We have intuitions about the existence of:
– words
– phrases
Constituency
– syntactic categories:
• word-level (lexical) categories (words are not all of
Evidence for Phrases the same kind)
• phrasal categories (phrases are not all of the same
kind)
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Phrasal categories Phrases and word-level categories
My brother will meet a friend from college at the My brother will meet a friend from college
station. at the station.
• my brother: NP
*meet a
* t
• from college: PP
• a friend from college: NP
*college at the
• at the station: PP
• meet a friend from college at the station: VP
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Constituency Phrases
• Words that go together form a constituent What is a phrase?
(or a phrase). You can define it semantically as having the same role as some of
the individual words (heads) that it contains:
e.g. N
Noun: person, place, or thing:
l thi
man, Noun
a man, the man with the green hat, Noun Phrase (NP)
kissed, Verb
kissed a man in the green hat, Verb Phrase (VP)
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2. Constituent Structure Phrasal categories:
morphological evidence
A sentence is built from constituents (i.e., different
kinds of phrases).
Each kind of phrase has a head plus other (1) a. I think I stole the guy’s hat.
b.*I think I stole the guy’s who I met in
constituents. Senegal hat.
c. I think I stole the guy who I met in
thi k t l th h ti
Senegal’s hat.
NP - Noun Phrase
VP - Verb Phrase
(2) a. This crown is the king’s.
PP - Prepositional Phrase
b.*This crown is the king’s of England.
AP - Adjective Phrase
c. This crown is the king of England’s.
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Phrasal categories:
Try the Substitution Test
morphological evidence
– The old woman met a lawyer.
• Generalization: The possessive/genitive – Bill married the old woman.
woman.
inflection ’s can attach only to NPs. – He threw the Frisbee to the old woman.
woman.
(Hence,
(Hence any adequate description of – Bill thought the old woman was sick
sick.
possessives must make reference to
phrases (i.e., constituency).
A pronoun can substitute for phrases that
appear in different positions in a sentence.
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Try the Substitution Test Ambiguity
– She met a lawyer.
– Bill married her.
her. Leonardo spotted a mermaid with his
– He threw the Frisbee to her.
her. binoculars.
– Bill thought she was sick
sick.
What does this sentence mean?
Paraphrase it!
A pronoun can substitute for phrases that
appear in different positions in a sentence.
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3. Substitution Test Substitution and Ambiguity
Or the pronoun can replace the smaller
The pronoun can replace the larger constituent constituent.
Leonardo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars.
Leonardo spotted a mermaid with hi bi
L d tt d id ith his binoculars.
l
Leonardo spotted her with his binoculars (i.e. a
Leo spotted her (i.e. a mermaid with his binoculars) mermaid)
Leo spotted [NP a mermaid] [PP with [NP his
Leo spotted [NP a mermaid [PP with [NP his binoculars]]] binoculars]]
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Substitution Test Substitution Test
a. speaker A: Have you ever been [PP to Paris]? Verb Phrases (VP) can be replaced by
speaker B: No, I have never been there. proverbs ‘does’/’does so’
*No, I have never been there Paris?
b. speaker A: I have seen John being [AP rude
• Sally fell and Mary fell too
to strangers]. – Sally fell and Mary did too
speaker B: I’ve never seen him being so.
*I’ve never seen him being so strangers.
• Bill ate pizza and Bob ate pizza too
• Generalization: Any adequate description of the – Bill ate pizza and Bob did too
distribution of pro-forms has to make reference to
constituents and categories.
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• If the VP has an object, the proverb replaces the Susan likes anchovies too.
entire VP (verb and object)
Bill likes anchovies and Susan likes anchovies too
• What’s the structure of the VP?
Bill likes anchovies and Susan does too
• Is likes a VP?
But not: • Is likes anchovies a VP?
*Bill likes anchovies and Susan does anchovies
too
WHY NOT?
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4. Movement Test Movement Test
Another test of constituency is the
The chef cooked those fried green tomatoes
Those fried green tomatoes, the chef cooked
Movement test:
M tt t *Tomatoes, th chef cooked th
*T t the h f k d those f i d green
fried
A constituent can be moved to the *Those, the chef cooked fried green tomatoes
front of a sentence. An entire phrase must be moved, not just its
parts.
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Movement Test
Movement Test
Leo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars. Leo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars.
The mermaid, Leo spotted with his binoculars.
The mermaid with his binoculars, Leo spotted.
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Movement test
By analogy, ran up the drainpipe and ran
The Movement test can show whether
up the bill should behave the same way.
something is or is not a phrase.
Why are they different?
– The mouse ran up the drainpipe.
drainpipe
– Up the drainpipe, the mouse ran.
– Leonardo ran up the bill
But:
– *Up the bill, Leonardo ran.
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5. Constituents Try Movement test
[The mouse] ran [up the drainpipe]
NP Verb PP (Preposition + NP)
– Leonardo looked up the beach.
__________________________________________
– Leonardo looked up the number.
Leonardo [ran up] [the bill]
Which groups of words can be fronted in each
NP Verb + Particle NP
example? And why?
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Movement test Further Evidence: Word Order
– Leonardo looked up the beach. – Leonardo ran up the bill
– Leonardo ran the bill up
Up the beach, Leonardo looked.
– Th mouse ran up th d i i
The the drainpipe
But not:
not
– Leonardo looked up the number But not:
*Up the number, Leonardo looked – *The mouse ran the drainpipe up
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Coordination Test Coordination Test
Another test of constituency is the coordination test:
Speaker A: What did the mouse do?
• only constituents of the same type can be coordinated Speaker B: It ran up the drainpipe and up the roof
But not:
cute cats and funny dogs
Speaker A: What did Leonardo do?
slowly but surely Speaker B: *He ran up the bill and up a huge credit
card debt
go to the movies or stay at home
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6. More Fragments
Sentence Fragment Test
Only constituents can be used as sentence fragments, • What does Bill like to do?
that is, as free-standing answers to questions. • Give Mary books.
• *Give Mary
Speaker A: Who is Leonardo talking to?
Speaker B: To my father. • What does Bill like to eat?
• The breaded shrimp.
But not: • *The breaded
Speaker A: Who is Leonardo talking to?
• Who came yesterday?
Speaker B: *To my.
• The King of France
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• *The King of 32
Summary
• Constituency Tests
– Substitution
– Movement
– Coordination
– Fragments
• Constituency explains:
onstituency
– Ambiguity
– Possessive Morphology
– Intuitions about natural breaks in sentences
(i.e., what words go together)
– Word order facts 33
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