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INTRODUCTION TO
SYNTAX

PRESENTERS:

Kaneez Fatima
Ayesha Kiran
Fiza Mushtaq
Jia Ali
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OVERVIEW
 Introduction
 Transformational rules and their restrictions
 X-bar Theory in Government and Binding
 Theta Theory
Course Book: ( Chomsky’s Universal Grammar)
TRANSFORMATIONAL
RULES AND THEIR
RESTRICTIONS
TRANSFORMATIONAL RULES AND 5
THEIR RESTRICTIONS

 Transformational grammar, are a set of syntactic rules that transform a given input
sentence structure (deep structure) into a different output sentence structure (surface
structure).

 Deep structure represents the core semantic relations.

 Surface structure represents the actual spoken or written form.

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KEY ASPECTS OF
TRANSFORMATIONAL
RULES INCLUDE
 Movement
 Insertion
 Deletion
 Substitution
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 Transformational component contained, language and construction

specific rules, so that it was impossible to make generalizations that
applied to all transformations.

 For example, one idea that emerged, transformations cannot move a

phrase "too far" in a well-defined sense.

 Let us look further at how the English wh-elements such as who, why or
what behave in interrogative constructions.

 (21) D-structure: I asked - Mary likes who.

 S-structure: I asked who Mary likes

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(23) D-structure: I asked [- ­Bill thinks [Mary likes who]].

S-structure: I asked [who Bill thinks [Mary likes - ]].

(24) I asked [ - Bill thinks [Mary likes who]].

(25) * I asked who Bill wondered why Mary likes -.

 WH-ISLAND CONSTRAINT 9

 Clauses which start with wh-elements are 'islands' on

which other elements are stranded.

 Note that the difference between the grammatical

movement in (24) and the ungrammatical movement in
(25) is that the position at the front of the second
embedded clause is vacant in the first but occupied in the
second. If the grammatical case involves not one long
movement, but two short ones which makes use of the
vacant wh-position, this accounts for the ungrammaticality
of (25) by claiming that long movements are not possible:
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Raising: Takes a subject of a lower clause and moves it to the subject position of a higher clause.
(27) D-structure: - seems [John to like Mary].
S-structure: John seems [ - to like Mary].
(28)
John seems - to be certain - to like Mary.
* John seems that it is certain - to like Mary.
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BOUNDING THEORY

This is a linguistic theory that places limits (locality conditions) on how

far elements can move within sentences.It explains why movements have

to be short and why certain positions (filled by elements) block these

movements.
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EXERCISE

Identify the moved elements in the following sentences:

I. Will that fit through the door?

II. A man who no one knew arrived at the party.

III. This suggestion, we will consider next week.

IV. A picture was found of the suspect at the scene of the crime.

V. Never had they seen such a performance.

X-BAR THEORY IN
GOVERNMENT AND
BINDING
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WHY GB THEORY WAS NEEDED?

 Complementation Issues

• Verbs: "chew the slipper"

• Prepositions: "in the kennel"

• Nouns: "*the picture the dog" (incorrect)

• Adjectives: "*fond the dog" (incorrect)

 Transformations Needed
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 Government (how different parts of a sentence are related)

 Example :"He reads the book," the verb "reads" governs the
noun "book," meaning it determines its role in the sentence.
 Binding (how pronouns and other elements relate to each other).
 Example: In the sentence "John said he would come," the
pronoun "he" must refer to "John" or someone mentioned earlier
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WHAT IS GB THEORY IN
SHORT

“Government and Binding (GB) Theory is a framework

in linguistic theory that aims to simplify the rules of

grammar by breaking it down into different modules.

Each module handles specific grammatical phenomena.”

 CASE THEORY 17

What is Case?

Definition:

“Case refers to the form that nouns or pronouns take to show their
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grammatical role in a sentence (e.g., subject, object).”

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CASE FILTER PRINCIPLE:

Case Filter:

 All noun phrases (NPs) must be in case positions.

 If an NP is in a position that doesn’t assign case, it needs to be adjusted

 Solution: Insert the preposition "of" to assign case.

 Example:
• Incorrect: "*fond him"
• Correct: "fond of him"
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STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIPS AND

CASE

• Subjects: Usually in the nominative case.

• Objects: Usually in the accusative case.

• Verbs and Prepositions: Assign accusative case to their objects.

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THE PROJECTION PRINCIPLE

“The Projection Principle is a rule in grammar that helps determine the structure of

phrases and sentences. It ensures that the information about the type of word (like a

noun or a verb) and its properties remains consistent as the sentence is built.”

• X is the head of the phrase (the core word).

• X' is the intermediate level that can include the head and its complement.

• X'' or XP is the maximal projection that represents the entire phrase,

including specifiers and adjuncts.

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PROCEDURE:
1. Imagine a generic phrase structure that can represent any type
of word (noun, verb, etc.).

2. Here, "x" is a placeholder for any category of word.

3. Choose a specific word from the dictionary (lexicon) and

insert it into the bottom of the structure.

4. For example, let's insert the verb "sleep“

5. Project the word's category upwards.

THETA THEORY
 ADJUNCTS
 Elements of structure accompanying the head within a phrase without being
complements or specifiers

 John slept.
 John slept very soundly.

Adjuncts are non-selected modifiers of heads and as such they can appear fairly
freely, being both optional and able to be included in a structure in indefinite
numbers (unlike complements).
 John slept very soundly in his bed all night dreaming beautiful dreams.
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 . How adjuncts should be incorporated in sentences?

 Through “Use of recursion”

 Recursion is a feature where a rule can refer to itself, and it's considered a
unique ability of human language according to Chomsky.

 x’ X’ YP

 An example of a recursive rule is shown as X' (an intermediate projection)

expanding to include another X' and an adjunct (YP). This means X' can
keep adding more adjuncts indefinitely.
This means you can keep adding adjuncts without limit, as seen in
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the sentence "The prime minister was very very very very ...
wrong."
According to this rule, adjuncts are placed further from the main
word (head) than complements, which are directly next to the head,
like in "The dog chewed the slipper vigorously" (where
"vigorously" is the adjunct).

However, this method has a problem: it's redundant to have a rule

for adding adjuncts since they're not required by the main word,
making it unnecessary to strictly regulate their inclusion.
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 “The view of D-structure that developed out of the 1960s was as a structural rep­

resentation of certain semantic relationships between elements.

 the element that sits in the subject position at S-structure is interpreted as the object

of the verb and hence is assumed to sit in object position at D-structure:

 D-structure: was chewed the slipper.

 S-structure: The slipper was chewed

 this raises questions about the definition of object and subject positions and why

certain elements sit in them but not others.

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The dog chewed the slipper. (a)
The slipper chewed the dog. (b)

From a semantic point of view, what is involved here is the relationship between elements
known as arguments and predicates.
A predicate is something which expresses a state or a relationship and an argument is something
that plays a role in that state or relationship.

The dog chewed the slipper.

Different arguments play different roles with respect to the predicate.

Thus, the subject of chew plays the role of the 'chewer' and the object plays the role of the
'chewee', the thing chewed.
THEMATIC ROLES 28

Agent, Patient, Goal, Recipient, Theme, Experiencer, Instrument

(53) Pete drank a pint of Adnams.

Pete is the agent in subject position, who deliberately drank

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something; a pint of Adnams is the patient in object position that the

agent drank.

(54) The government banned speeches fomenting terrorism

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 However, not all subjects are interpreted as agents, and

not all objects as patients. For example in:

 (55) John sent a letter to Mary.

 the semantic role that an argument bears depends on the

predicate.

 (57) a. The dog chewed the slipper.

 b. The dog (experiencer) saw the slipper. (Theme)

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 (58) chew: 1_ NP)< agent, patient> , receive: [_ NP PP], see: [_ NP],

 These lexical entries therefore not only include the subcategorization
frames of the verbs detailing what complements they take but also a theta
grid supplying information about the roles that their arguments take.
 In GB Theory it is claimed that predicates assign their θ-roles to specific
structural positions and that any element sitting in those positions will be
interpreted as bearing the assigned roles.
 So the agent of chew is assigned to the subject position and the patient is
assigned to the object position
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SISTERHOOD CONDITION
•
• Two arguments cannot receive the .

same theta role if they are sisters

• Sisters: two nodes that are at the

same level in a tree
• Share the same immediate parents
• Same hierarchical position
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INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL THETA

ROLES
• INTERNAL • EXTERNAL
• That are external to the
• Internal to the predicator predicator
• Show semantic relationship between • Show semantic relationship
the verb and its internal arguments
between the predicator and the
external arguments
• E.g.: Theme, Patient, Experiencer

• E.g.: Agent, Goal, Source

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THETA CRITERION
• All theta roles must be assigned to one and only • .
one argument

• All arguments must bear one and only one theta

role (THETA UNIQUENESS)

• JHON KICKED THE BALL

• JHON: AGENT
• THE BALL: THEME
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ZERO/NULL THETA
•
• Absence of theta role .

• Expletive subjects
• There is a book on the table
• It’s 5 o’clock
 k y ou !
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