CONSTITUENCY TESTS

• Constituency tests target different units in the

INTRODUCTION TO structure
LINGUISTICS – Co-ordination: any constituent (=node)
– one substitution: N’
– do so substitution: V’
SYNTAX V
– movement: XPs, X˚s
• Movement (transformation): A syntactic unit is
moved from it’s basic position to a different
position in the tree.
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IP A NOTE ON NOTATION
• A simple sentence is IP • In the textbook, tense is notated as [+Pst] (=Past tense)
and [-Pst] (Present and Future). You can do it this way.
an IP (IP is a clause).
NP I’ • It is also possible to use [+Pres] instead of [-Pst] for
• The specifier of IP is present tense, or to just notate tense as [PAST] or
the subject of the [PRES] (capitalization irrelevant).
N’ • Important is the content! But don’t forget to indicate the
clause. I˚ VP
N˚ [+Pst] tense in I˚!
• I˚: modals, auxiliaries John • You will also find trees (e.g., on the web) in which
can V’
(to be revised slightly), inflected verbs are ‘split up’; i.e., the tense is in I˚ and V˚
and tense information has V˚ contains only the stem (e.g., in case of “ate”, I˚ would
host [+Pst] and V˚ would only contain the stem “eat”).
read
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HEAD MOVEMENT EMBEDDED CLAUSES

Yes/no IP
question Has SENTENCE
formation: NP I’ John said that Mary has left…
X˚/head-
movement N’
I˚ VP OBJECT of say
N˚ has
John V’ COMPLEMENT of V˚
Where does COMPLEMENT CLAUSE
I˚ move to? V˚
left ? See textbook (pp. 183-185)
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 CP-STRUCTURE PRACTICE PROBLEM 8
CP

Spec C’ • Read section 2.3 (pp. 183-185) in the

textbook.
John said C˚ IP
that • Do Exercise 9 in the textbook (p. 220).
that Mary has left NP I’ • Make sure you follow the X-bar
schema.
IP N’ I˚ VP
has
COMPLEMENTIZER N˚ V’
Mary
V˚
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left
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CP Where does
I˚ move to in PRACTICE PROBLEM 9
Spec C’ Yes/no
C˚ IP questions?
• Read section 3.1 (pp. 185-190) in the
Has textbook.
NP I’ • Do Exercise 10 in the textbook (p. 220).
• Do not draw separate tree structures for the
N’ deep structure (original, underlying structure
I˚ VP before movement) and surface structure
N˚ t(race)
John (structure after movement); but indicate
V’ movement with arrows, and do not forget to
V˚ put traces in your structures!
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CP wh-movement:
SPECIFIER OF CP [+Q] in Spec,CP
[+Q] C’
CP NP XP moves to
• What goes in C˚ IP
Spec,CP? N’ Spec,CP
Spec C’ [+Q]
• CP is the question [+Q] will NP I’
C˚ IP N˚
domain. What N’ I˚ VP
[+Q] t
• Yes/No Question: N˚ V’
[+Q] property in C˚ John
Triggers X˚-
• wh-question: [+Q] movement V˚ tNP
property in Spec,CP eat
Triggers XP-
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movement 11 104-201B Mar 18, 2002 12 ?

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 CP subject questions:
Q-PROPERTIES Spec C’ no I˚-to-C˚
[+Q] movement
Subject questions and embedded NP C˚ IP
questions do not have [+Q] in C˚
N’ tNP I’
• John asked what Mary will eat twh N˚ I˚ VP
Not: Who will
*John asked what will Mary tI˚ eat twh V’
• John wondered whether Mary can swim.
V˚ NP
Not: eat
*John wondered whether can Mary tI˚ swim the cake
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PRACTICE PROBLEM 10 SPECIFIERS

• [CP Who has John met twh yesterday]
• Read section 3.2 (pp. 190-195) in the • [IP The store on the corner sells fresh juice]
textbook. • [NP These shoes] hurt
• Do Exercise 11 in the textbook (p. 220). • He is [AP very sweet]
• You should [VP always check for bugs]
• Do not draw separate tree structures for the
deep structure (original, underlying structure • He walked [PP straight into the room]
before movement) and surface structure
Specifier of CP: wh phrase
(structure after movement); but indicate
movement with arrows, and do not forget to Specifier of IP: subject of the clause
put traces in your structures! Specifier of NP: determiner
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COMPLEMENTS (V) COMPLEMENTS (A, N)

Complement options for A˚
Complement options for V˚ – Ø: John is [ happy ]AP
– Ø: The airplane [ disappeared ]VP – PP: John is [ happy about the news ]AP
– NP: John [ likes tomatoes ]VP – CP: John is [ certain that he locked the door ]AP
– PP: John [ went to the store ]VP Complement options for N˚
– AP: The plumber [ became very angry ]VP – Ø: [John ]NP disappeared
– CP: The psychic [ knows that/if/whether the – PP: [The student of physics ]NP disappeared
candidate will succeed ]VP – CP: I have [ proof that the gardener is the
murderer ]NP
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 X-BAR STRUCTURE:
COMPLEMENTS (P)
SUMMARY
Complement options for P˚
Head (X˚) Complement Specifier
– Ø: He got [ down ]PP
VP V˚ Ø or Object (NP, PP, AP, or CP) Ø, Adverb (phrase)
– NP: The squirrel is [ under the roof ]PP
AP A˚ Ø, PP, or CP Ø, Adverb (phrase)
– PP: It went [ down into the cellar ]PP
PP P˚ PP, NP, or CP Ø, Adverb (phrase)
– CP: They argued [ over whether Eric had
left]PP NP N˚ Ø, PP, or CP Ø, Det

IP I˚ VP Subject

CP C˚ IP Ø, wh-phrase

See textbook (pp. 179-185)

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