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--- ### "I know the homework is due in a few hours but I just started and I have some questions..."
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--- # Syntax 2: Phrase Structure Rules ### Will Styler - LIGN 101 --- ### Today's Plan - Phrase Structure Rules - Tree Planting --- ### Last time, we talked about constituents - Noun Phrases - Verb Phrases - Prepositional Phrases --- ### ... and we realized that the world of syntax isn't flat - (Neither is the rest of the world, damnit) --- ### Now, let's think a bit more about those structures --- # Phrase Structure Rules --- ### We have intuitions about what can be inside a noun phrase in English... - The big, strong rhinoceros - *The big, quickly rhinoceros - *The strong, charged rhinoceros --- ### Same thing with a prepositional phrase in English - I saw her outside the barn - *I saw her outside fall over - *I saw her outside beautiful --- ### Even a verb phrase has constraints in English - I hugged the small kitten - *I small hugged the kitten - *I hugged gently the kitten (???) --- ### And sentences definitely have rules in English - Sam sent Amanda to the store. - *Sent Sam Amanda to the store. - *Amanda Sam to the store sent. --- ### Unless Yoda you are
--- ### So, English has rules about how phrases are built - ... that sounds useful! --- ### A good theory of syntax does two things - 1: It can generate all of the sentences that speakers of a language think are grammatical - 2: It will *not* generate sentences that speakers of a language think are *ungrammatical* --- ### Today, we'll talk about a *very* basic approach to this --- #
HUGE DISCLAIMER
- Syntax is **huge** - We are only teaching you a small part of it to handle a small number of sentences. - The rules you will have do *not* suffice for most complex sentences - The handout shows the rules *we will use*. - There are other sets. Trust nobody else, not even the book! - I'm going to be saying "Don't worry about that" a lot this quarter! - Consider LIGN 101 syntax to be a teaser for LIGN 121, where you'll get a bigger picture - ... and a different set of rules! --- ### Phrase Structure Rules - Rules that describe the sub-elements which can form a given syntactic constituent - ... and their ordering - We're going to talk in terms of "building trees" - But really, we're building sentences - **Syntax trees are built from phrase structure rules!** --- ### Phrase structure rule format - X → Y Z - S → NP VP - "A sentence is composed of an NP, followed by a VP"
--- ### Phrase structure rules are like building blocks of sentences - We build sentences by building chunks using PS rules - Then combining them into the desired larger forms
--- ### A Note on Notation - We're going to talk about NP, N', and N - These are three different things - NP (/ɛn pi/ or "Noun Phrase") - N' or N̄ ("N-Bar", /ɛn bɑɹ/) - N' and N̄ are two ways of writing the same thing - N ("Noun", /ɛn/) - The symbols → and -> mean the same thing --- # How do we build trees? --- ### Building a phrase structure tree (Part 1) - Step 1: Find constituents and think about what *kinds* of phrases they are - "Huh, this is a preposition. There's gotta be a PP around here..." - Step 2: Start from S and move down the tree, stitching together according to our PS rules - Some folks work *up*, starting from individual phrases - ***The top node is always S*** --- ### Building a phrase structure tree (Part 2) - Step 3: Check to make sure every branching obeys the phrase structure rules - "OK, this is Rule 9, now rule 1 to 2, then here's 11..." - Step 4: A beautiful tree will be grown! --- ### Some tree-drawing rules - You always branch downwards - If a branch is moving upwards, you're doing it wrong - Lines should *never* cross - They don't need to. If you think they need to, you're doing it wrong. - You will not need to do any three-way branching for LIGN 101 - Every branch will have either one or two connections down. - Some branches may have two words (but not on your homeworks!) - Compounds or phrases without internal structure "Mai Tai" or "Will Styler" or "back up" -
Use the Phrase Structure Rules we gave you on the handout.
--- ### ONLY USE THE PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES WE GIVE YOU ON THE HANDOUT
--- # Introduction to our English Phrase Stucture Rules --- ## Noun Phrase Rules --- ### Rule 1) NP -> DET N' ### Rule 3) N' -> N
--- ### Rule 1) NP -> DET N' ### Rule 3) N' -> N
--- ... but what if there's no determiner? --- ### Rule 2) NP -> N' ### Rule 3) N' -> N
--- ### Rule 2) NP -> N' ### Rule 3) N' -> N
--- ### Rule 2) NP -> N' ### Rule 3) N' -> N
--- ### How do we deal with adjectives? --- ### Rule 4) N' -> ADJ N' - We can combine Rule 1, Rule 4, and Rule 3...
--- ### Rules 1, 3, 4 We can combine Rule 1, Rule 4, and Rule 3...
--- ### Rules 1, 3, 4 We can combine Rule 1, Rule 4, and Rule 3...
--- ### ... Rule 4 is recursive! - The N' contains another N'! - It can apply as many times as you need! ---
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--- (... and so on) --- ## What about prepositions? Linguists love prepositions! --- ## Rule 5: NP -> NP PP ## Rule 6: PP -> P NP
--- ### Rules 5 and 6
--- ### "Two computational linguists from San Diego" --- ### "Two computational linguists from San Diego"
--- ## Now, let's make a sentence! --- ### Rule 7: S -> NP VP ### Rule 8: VP -> V
--- ### Rules 2, 3, 7, 8
--- ### Rule 10: VP -> V PP
--- ### Rules 2, 3, 6, 7, 10
--- ### But lots of verbs are *transitive*, and take a noun phrase as the object --- ### Rule 9: VP -> V NP
--- ### Rules 1, 2, 3, 7, 9
--- ### ... and we can bring old rules back in!
--- ### ... and we can bring more old rules back in!
--- ### Maybe we want to modify the verbing... --- ### Rule 11: VP -> VP PP This one's recursive too!
--- ### "Two computational linguists from San Diego walked into a bar"
--- ### "Two computational linguists from San Diego walked into a bar"
--- ### But this works with all the stuff we've been doing...
--- ### Is this starting to feel familiar?
--- ### Drawing Syntax Trees is combining small elements to make bigger, fancier trees
---
--- ### Complementizers put sentences within sentences - Words like "that", "when", "if", "while", "as", and more --- ### Rule 7: S -> NP VP ### Rule 12: VP -> V CP ### Rule 13: CP -> C S --- ### *"That allows you to drop a whole new sentence in there!!"*
--- ### Rule 12: VP -> V CP and Rule 13: CP -> C S
--- ### ... we can go deeper
--- ### ... and this combines with everything we've been doing ...
--- ### ... and just keeps getting worse ...
---
--- ### (Don't worry, that last one was mostly just me having fun) - You'll be doing much simpler trees on tests and homeworks --- ### Do not be tempted by darkness --- ## Where you attach things changes the meaning! --- ### Be careful where you put your prepositional phrases! - There are multiple 'legal' places to attach a given prepositional phrase - ... but where you attach prepositional phrases changes the meaning - Sometimes the difference is subtle, but often it isn't! ---
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--- ### You may think...
--- ### ... but in reality ...
--- ## Drawing Trees --- ### How do you draw phrase structure trees? - **Only Electronically!** - This makes for fewer scanning and legibility issues - Pros tend to use LaTeX, but that's fancy - Or using a tool like
- You'll need to use bracket notation for that - It's frustrating at first, but it does the job - This is a friendly tool
--- ```[.S [.NP [.NP [.DET The ] [.N' [.ADJ proud ] [.N' [.N baker ] ] ] ] [.PP [.P from ] [.NP [.N' [.N San Bernadino ] ] ] ] ] [.VP [.V loved ] [.CP [.C that ] [.S [.NP [.N' [.N people ] ] ] [.VP [.V cheered ] [.CP [.C as ] [.S [.NP [.N' [.N Will ] ] ] [.VP [.VP [.V ate ] [.NP [.NP [.DET the ] [.N' [.ADJ massive ] [.N' [.ADJ chocolate ] [.N' [.N cake ] ] ] ] ] [.PP [.P from ][.NP [.DET the ] [.N' [.ADJ new ] [.N' [.N bakery ] ] ] ] ] ] ][.PP [.P with ] [.NP [.DET his ] [.N' [.N wife ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]```
--- ### I've made a video tutorial for creating these trees using [jsSyntaxTree](https://ironcreek.net/syntaxtree/)
--- ### Let's Practice ([if we have time](http://savethevowels.org/talks/l101_12_syntax2.html#/106)) "The grumpy polar bears from LA hated the excruciating traffic on the 405." --- ### "The grumpy polar bears from LA hated the excruciating traffic on the 405." Let's break it down! --- ### The grumpy polar bears * Rule 1 -> Rule 4 -> Rule 4 -> Rule 3 ---
--- ### From LA * Rule 6 -> Rule 2 -> Rule 3 ---
--- ### The grumpy polar bears from LA * Combine the PP and NP using Rule 5 ---
--- ### The excruciating traffic * Rules 1, 4, 3 ---
--- ### On the 405 * Rule 6 -> Rule 1 -> Rule 3 ---
--- ### The excruciating traffic on the 405 * Rule 5 to combine the two chunks ---
--- ### hated the excruciating traffic on the 405 * A little bit of Rule 9's all I need ---
--- ### "The grumpy polar bears from LA hated the excruciating traffic on the 405." - Rule 7, then BOOM! ---
--- ### For Next Time - We'll do a bit more tree practice - We'll touch on some of the many things we're leaving behind in Syntax ---
Thank you!