SYNTAX

Syntax is almost the same as morphology. They are talking about the hierarchy. The
different: syntax is talking about the hierarchy of sentences while morphology is of words.
Syntax is the study of the structure of sentences.
CATEGORIES AND STRUCTURE
 Words can be grouped together into a relatively small number of classes (syntactic
categories)  constituents of sentences. The relationships between constituents in a
sentence form the constituent structure of the sentence.
o E.g. Many persons eat at a fancy restaurant.
 There are three constituents: many persons, eat, at a fancy restaurant.
 Syntactic categories
Lexical categories Examples
Noun (N) Harry, boy, police, wheat
Verb (V) arrive, discuss, melt, hear, remain
Adjective (A) good, tall, silent, old, expensive
Preposition (P) to, in, near, on, by, at
Adverb (Adv) silently, slowly, quietly, quickly, now
Non-lexical categories Examples
Determiner (Det) the, a, this, these
Auxiliary (Aux) will, can, may, must, be, have
Conjunction (Con) and, or, but
Degree word (Deg) too, so, very, almost, more, quite

 Word-level categories and meaning

o Nouns : typically name entities, e.g. individuals and objects
o Verbs: designate actions (run, jump), sensations (feel, hurt), and states (be,
remain)
o Adjective: designate a property or attribute that is applicable to the types of
entities denoted by nouns
o Adverb: denote properties and attributes that can be applied to the actions
designated by verbs
 Phrase Categories
o Phrase
 syntactic units built around Ns, Vs, As, and Ps with an emphasis on
the organizational properties that they have in common

Intro to Linguistics – Handout 6 Page 1

  Consisting of two levels
phrase level NP VP AP PP

word level N V A P

 The word around which the phrase is built (the lowest level)  the
head of the phrase (an N in an NP phrase, a V in a VP phrase, and so
on).
o E.g. [NP the books]
[VP will eat]
[AP quite certain]
[PP almost in]

 Specifiers: words which, semantically, help to make more precise the

meaning of the head (determiners, auxiliaries, degree words, etc.)
Category Function Examples
Det specifier of n the, a, this, those
Aux specifier of v will, can, have, be
Deg specifier of a and p very, quite, more, almost

Intro to Linguistics – Handout 6 Page 2

  Complement: element (in form of phrase) which provide information
about entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning
of the head.
o In English, complements are attached to the right of the head.
o For example, the meaning of eat implies an object that is eaten;
the meaning of in implies a location, and so on.
o E.g. (The customer) may eat [the hamburger].

Complement naming the thing eaten

almost in [the house]

Complement naming a location

o Consider the following examples:
a. [NP the books about the war]
b. [VP may eat the hamburger]

a. [AP quite certain about the answer]

b. [PP almost in the house]

o Phrasal categories: a set of constituents that behave the same, or share the
same functions and distributions
 verb phrase (VP) (can consist of a single V or a V plus other words
(V+ADV) (V+NP+PP))
 phrasal verb can be used as the predicate of the sentence.
 Adjective phrase (AdjP)/ (AP)
 Adverbial phrase (AdvP)

Intro to Linguistics – Handout 6 Page 3

  Prepositional phrase (PP)
 Sentence (S)
o Phrase Structure Rules
 Specifier is attached at the top level to the left of the head
 Complement is attached to the right of the head
 The XP rules:
o XP  (Specifier) X (Complement)
o X stands for N, V, A, or P.
XP

Specifier X Complement
Head
o Sentence Rule
 Traditionally, the largest unit of syntactic analysis is the sentence (S).
 Sentence is formed by combining an NP and a VP in accordance with
the rule stated.
 The NP that combines with the VP in this way is called the subject.
 The S Rule: S  NP VP

EXERCISES

Intro to Linguistics – Handout 6 Page 4

 1. Indicate the category of each word in the following sentences.
a. That glass suddenly broke.
b. A jogger ran toward the end of the lane.
c. These dead trees must be removed.
d. He hurriedly searched through the garbage.
e. The peaches are quite ripe.
f. Jeremy will play the trumpet and the drums in the orchestra.

2. Each of the following phrases consists of a specifier and a head. Draw the tree
diagram.
a. the zoo
b. was writing
c. less bleak
d. quite near

3. The following phrases includes a head, a complement, and (in some cases) a specifier.
Draw the tree diagram.
a. into the house
b. fixed the telephone
c. more towards the window
d. could earn the money

4. Draw the phrase structure trees for the following sentences.

a. Those guests have left.
b. The teacher organized a discussion.
c. Susan plays badminton and Rudi plays football.
d. My mother likes cooking while my sister likes eating.

Intro to Linguistics – Handout 6 Page 5