Course Summary: Syntax and Semantics
SYNTAX
Sentence Structure and Phrase Structure Grammar
Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG) provides a formal system for describing sentence structure through
a series of rules that show how sentences are built from smaller units.
Key components:
• Constituency: Words group together into phrases and clauses
• Hierarchical structure: Sentences are organized in tree structures
• Rewrite rules: Express how one constituent can be broken down into smaller constituents
Example of PSG rules:
S → NP VP
NP → Det N
VP → V (NP)
Example analysis: For the sentence "The dog chased the cat":
• S (Sentence)
o NP (Noun Phrase): "The dog"
▪ Det: "The"
▪ N: "dog"
o VP (Verb Phrase): "chased the cat"
▪ V: "chased"
▪ NP: "the cat"
▪ Det: "the"
▪ N: "cat"
Sentence Structure and Transformational Generative Grammar
Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG), developed by Noam Chomsky, extends PSG by
proposing that sentences have both a deep structure and a surface structure, connected by
transformational rules.
1.1. Deep Structure and Surface Structure
Deep Structure (D-structure):
• The underlying abstract representation capturing basic semantic relationships
• Generated by phrase structure rules
• Represents the core meaning of a sentence
Surface Structure (S-structure):
• The actual sentence as spoken or written
• Derived from deep structure through transformational rules
• Represents how the sentence appears after transformations
Example:
• Deep structure underlying both "John read the book" and "The book was read by John" is
essentially the same, capturing that John (agent) performed the action of reading the book
(patient).
1.2. Transformational Rules
Rules that convert deep structures into surface structures.
1. Movement (Moving)
- Relocates constituents within the sentence structure
- Often creates dependencies between positions
Examples:
- Wh-movement: "John bought what?" → "What did John buy?" (moves the question word to the
beginning)
- Passive movement: "The dog chased the cat" → "The cat was chased by the dog" (moves object to
subject position)
- Subject-Auxiliary Inversion: "She will arrive" → "Will she arrive?" (moves auxiliary before subject)
3. Insertion (Inserting)
- Adds new elements that weren't in the deep structure
- Often required for grammaticality or to support transformations
Examples:
- Do-insertion: "John likes coffee" → "Does John like coffee?" (inserts auxiliary "do" to form question)
- Dummy subject insertion: "Is raining" → "It is raining" (inserts dummy subject "it")
- Complementizer insertion: "I think John is smart" → "I think that John is smart" (inserts "that")
Substitution (Substituting)
- Replaces one element with another
- Often changes form rather than meaning
Examples:
- Affix hopping: "John + past + walk" → "John walked" (substitutes inflected form)
- Pronominalization: "John saw John's book" → "John saw his book" (substitutes pronoun for
repeated noun)
- Tense agreement: "They will left yesterday" → "They left yesterday" (substitutes appropriate tense
form)
The Passive Rule
Transforms an active sentence into its passive equivalent.
Transformation process:
1. Move the object NP to subject position
2. Move the subject NP to a by-phrase (optional)
3. Add auxiliary "be"
4. Change the main verb to past participle form
Example:
• Active (D-structure): "The chef prepared the meal"
• Passive (S-structure): "The meal was prepared by the chef"
Yes-No Question Rule
Transforms a declarative sentence into a yes-no question.
Transformation process:
1. Move the first auxiliary verb to the beginning of the sentence
2. If no auxiliary exists, insert "do" and move it to the beginning
Examples:
• Declarative: "She is studying linguistics"
• Question: "Is she studying linguistics?"
• Declarative: "They went to the store"
• Question: "Did they go to the store?"
The Imperative Rule
Transforms a declarative sentence into a command.
Transformation process:
1. Delete the subject (usually "you")
2. Use the base form of the verb
3. Optional: Add "please" for politeness
Examples:
• Declarative: "You close the door"
• Imperative: "Close the door"
• Declarative: "You hand me that book"
• Imperative: "Please hand me that book"
SEMANTICS
Definition of Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning in language, examining how words, phrases, and sentences convey
meaning and how humans interpret these meanings.
Some Semantic Notions
Denotative Meaning vs. Connotative Meaning
Denotative meaning:
• The literal, dictionary definition of a word
• Objective and shared by most speakers of a language
Connotative meaning:
• Additional associations or emotional reactions evoked by a word
• Subjective and may vary based on culture, context, and individual experience
Example:
• "Home" denotatively means "a place where one lives"
• "Home" connotatively might suggest warmth, security, comfort, or family
Reference vs. Sense
Reference:
• The actual object in the world that a linguistic expression refers to
• The relationship between language and the external world
Sense:
• The meaning of an expression within the language system
• How a word relates to other words in the language
Example:
• "The morning star" and "the evening star" have different senses (different descriptions)
• But they have the same reference (both refer to the planet Venus)
Semantic Fields
Groups of words that relate to the same conceptual domain or share semantic properties.
Example: Semantic field of "colors"
• Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, etc.
Example: Semantic field of "cooking verbs"
• Boil, fry, bake, roast, simmer, sauté, etc.
Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations
Syntagmatic relations:
• Horizontal relationships between words that can co-occur in a sequence
• Concern word combinations in sentences
• Governed by syntactic rules
Example: In "The cat chased the mouse," syntagmatic relations exist between adjacent words that
form grammatical sequences.
Paradigmatic relations:
• Vertical relationships between words that can substitute for each other
• Concern word choices from the same category
• Based on semantic similarity or contrast
Example: In "The cat chased the mouse," paradigmatic relations exist between "cat" and other
possible substitutions like "dog," "fox," etc.
Theories of Semantics
The Referential Theories of Meaning
Focuses on how words relate to objects, events, or properties in the real world.
Key principles:
• Words get their meaning by referring to things in the world
• Meaning is a relationship between linguistic expressions and external reality
Example: The meaning of "tree" is the actual trees in the world that the word refers to.
Limitation: Cannot account for abstract concepts, fictional entities, or expressions that don't refer to
anything specific (e.g., "unicorn," "nowhere").
Mentalistic Theories of Meaning
1. Componential Semantics
Analyzes word meanings by breaking them down into smaller semantic components or features.
Key principles:
• Word meanings consist of combinations of semantic features
• Features are typically binary (+/- distinctions)
• Words are differentiated by their feature compositions
Example: Analysis of kinship terms:
• "Man" = [+HUMAN, +ADULT, +MALE]
• "Woman" = [+HUMAN, +ADULT, -MALE]
• "Boy" = [+HUMAN, -ADULT, +MALE]
• "Girl" = [+HUMAN, -ADULT, -MALE]
2. Truth-Based Semantics
Focuses on conditions under which sentences can be judged true or false.
Key concepts:
Entailment:
• A semantic relationship where if sentence A is true, then sentence B must also be true
• Logical consequence relationship between propositions
Example:
• Sentence A: "Mark is a bachelor"
• Sentence B: "Mark is unmarried"
• A entails B (If A is true, B must be true)
Presupposition:
• Information assumed to be true for a sentence to make sense
• Remains constant even when the sentence is negated
Example:
• Sentence: "The king of France is bald"
• Presupposition: "There exists a king of France"
• Negation: "The king of France is not bald" (still presupposes there is a king of France)
Truth-based semantics helps explain how we interpret complex sentences and how logical
relationships between statements work in natural language.
