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Complete lecture notes Linguistics 2 (PL2LING2)
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28/09/2021 PL2LING2 – Lecture 1 functional categoriesConstituency – some strings of words in a clause can group together to form a grammatical unit
Constituency test – constituents can be co-ordinated with others of the same type e.g., NP + NP
X-bar theory – specifier, adjunct (recursion) & complement levels
Generalised X-bar rules – 2 versions for each levels & can be used to describe every language
English uses the specifier rule on the left, can use either
adjunct rule and uses the complement rule on the right
Specifier rule requires the specifier to be phrasal –
issues with determiners as they are a single word
Led to new X-bar category of DP to fit determiners into
the theory
Note on PPs – often adjuncts but phrases beginning with ‘of’
behave more like complements (need to be next to the
noun)
Note of DP – possessive ‘s is treated as D is tree structure
How does S fit into X-bar theory?
Head determines core properties e.g., definite vs indefinite
If head property of an S is to be tense/finiteness then TP needs to be an X-bar category
Tense can be marked with verb suffix or AUX (complementary distribution – one of the other &
behave syntactically the same)
AUX = overt T while a suffix = null T
With TP there is no need for S at the top now
Specifier of TP = DP Complement of TP = VP
CPs in embedded clauses e.g., that, whether, if act as complementisers
The complement of CP is TP
Complementisers can be overt or null e.g., John said (that) Bill ate the cake
, Assume there is a CP in every clause so CP is at the top of each tree
05/10/2021 PL2LING2 – Lecture 2 semantic relations
Arguments – constituent that participates in an action expressed by a V
Arguments are obligatory so adjuncts are not arguments
John slept – intransitive verb
John bought a bed – transitive verb
John gave the book to Susan – ditransitive verb
Transitivity, subcategorisation and selectional restrictions are types of lexical restrictions
Subcategorisation – limits types of arguments e.g. remember can have DP or CP like Sarah
remembered the answer vs Sarah remembered that you have the answer while hit can only have DP
e.g. Sarah hit the ball
Selectional restrictions – limits semantic properties of arguments e.g. ‘love’/’kill’ requires animacy so
the criminal killed the pebble does not violate subcategorisation or argument structure but it is the
noun type that doesn’t make sense
Semantic relations – constituent role played in the action expressed by the V e.g., agent, goal etc.
Constituent can be assigned more than one semantic relation
Theta role – bundle of semantic relations associated with one argument
Theta criterion - theta roles & arguments must match one-to-one (need the right number & type)
Theta grid – if not adequately filled or too many arguments - ungrammatical
The Projection Principle – lexical info needs to be syntactically represented at all times
Grammaticality – determined by X-bar theory (syntax) & idiosyncratic properties (lexical) of verbs
Two types of ‘it’
The boy saw the cake and then ate it – anaphoric – assigned a theta role
It rained for hours – expletive – violated that criterion – obligatory but has no theta role
Expletive ‘it’ – unclear reference, empty theta grid e.g. it rained & it was obvious etc.
Subject ‘it’ still required – syntactic requirements overrides semantic requirements of a criterion
The Extended Project Principle – all clauses must have a subject (specifier of TP) & lexical info is
syntactically represented at all levels
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