Formal syntax: The

Chomskyan turn
BEČKOVÁ ZUZANA, VOJTEK DANIEL, VÉNOS KRISTÝNA
Grammatical
categories
Grammatical categories

 Refers to a set of specific syntactic properties of words that can cause

those words and other related words to change in form for
grammatical reasons
 Number (singularity or plurality)
 Definiteness (definite and indefinite nouns)
 Tense (the time at which the actions or events took place)
 Aspect (expresses the way in which time is denoted by a verb)
 Case (expresses the functional role of a noun or noun phrase)
 Person (first, second or third person)
 Gender and mood (refers to a sub-division of nouns into masculine, feminine gender and
neuter)
Grammatical categories

 Words are traditionally assigned to grammatical categories on the

basis of their shared morphological and syntactic properties.
 The morphological criteria for categorising words concern their
inflectional and derivational properties.
 Inflectionalproperties relate to different forms of the same word
(verbs, nouns)
 Derivational properties relate to the processes by which a word can be
used to form a different kind of word by the addition of an affix of some
kind
Complications with nouns

 Irregular
e.g. one sheep – two sheep
 Intrinsically singular (no plural form)
e.g. people, police
 Plural form but not singular countable form
e.g. scissors, trousers
 Noun expressions which contains more than one noun
- only the head noun can be pluralized, not the modifier
e.g.car doors, skate boards
Complications with verbs

 This section is complicated by the irregular and impoverished nature of English inflectional morphology
Derivational
morphology in
English
Derivational morphology in English

 Particular derivational affixes can only be attached to words

belonging to particular categories
 For example, the negative prefixes „un-“ and „in-“ can be attached to adjectives to form a
corresponding negative adjective (happy/unhappy)
but not to nouns (un-fear) , nor to prepositions (un-inside)
 Similarly, the adverbializing suffix „-ly“ in English can be attached only to adjectives
(sad/sadly)
 Likewise, the nominalising suffix „–ness“ can be attached only to adjective stems
(coarse/coarseness)
Derivational morphology in English

 In much the same way, the comparative suffix „–er“ can be

attached to adjectives (tall/taller) and some adverbs (soon/sooner)
 …and the superlative suffix „–est“ can attach to adjectives
(tall/tallest) but not other types of word (down/downest)
 It is clear that derivational affixes have categorial properties, and any account of
derivational morphology will clearly have to recognize this fact.
Syntactic terms
Syntactic terms

 Different categories of words have different distibutions

(i.e. occupy a different range of position within phrases or
sentences)
 For example:
„They have no _____“
 we can use a noun, but not a verb, preposition, adjective, or adverb
„They have no car/conscience/friends/ideas“ (nouns)

„They have no went (verb) /for (preposition) /older (adj) /conscientiously“ (adverb)
Syntactic terms, adjectives X adverbs

 We can differentiate adjectives from adverbs in syntactic terms

 For example, only adverbs can be used to end sentences such as
„He treats her ___“
„He treats her badly (adverb)/ kind (adj)/ shame (noun)“
„She behaved ___“
„She behaved abominably (adverb)/ appalling (adj)/ disgrace (noun)“
Syntactic terms, adjectives X adverbs

 And since adjectives can serve as the complement of the verb be

(i.e. can be used after be), we can delimit the class of adjectives
uniquely by saying that only adjectives can be used to complete a
four-word sentence of the form
„They are very ___“
„They are very tall/pretty/kind/nice“ (adjectives)
„They are very slowly (adverb)/ gentlemen (noun)/ astonish (verb)/ outside (preposition)“
Syntactic terms, adjectives X adverbs

 Another way of differentiating between an adjective like „real“ and

an adverb like „really“ is that adjectives are used to modify nouns,
whereas adverbs are used to modify other types of expression:
There is a real crisis [real+noun]
He is really nice [really+adjective]
He walks really slowly [really+adverb]
He is really down [really+preposition]
He must really squirm [really+verb]
Syntactic terms, adjectives X adverbs

 Adjectives used to modify a following noun (like real in There is a

real crisis) are traditionally said to be attributive in function
„There is a real crisis“
 Whereas those which do not modify a following noun (like real in
The crisis is real) are said to be predicative in function
„The crisis is real“
Categorising words
Categorising words

 Given that different categories have different morphological and

syntactic properties, it follows that we can use those properties of a
word to determine its categorisation
 The morphological properties of a given word provide an initial rough
guide to its categorial status
- in order to determine the categorial status of an individual word, we
can ask whether it has the inflectional and derivational properties of a
particular category
Categorising words

 For example, we can tell that „happy“ is an adjective by virtue of

the fact that it has the derivational properties of typical adj. It can
take:

The negative prefix „un-“ („unhappy“)

The comparative/superlative suffixes „-er“/“-est“ („happier/happiest“)
The adverbialising suffix „–ly“ („happily“)
The nominalising suffix „–ness“ („happiness“)
Categorising words

 However, we cannot always rely entirely on morphological

clues, owing to the fact that morphology is sometimes
irregular, sometimes subject to idiosyncratic restrictions, and
sometimes of limited productivity
 For example, although regular adverbs (quickly, slowly) generally end in the derivational
suffix „–ly“, this is not true of irregular adverbs like „fast“
 Moreover, when they have the comparative suffix „–er“ added to them, regular adverbs
lose their „–ly“ suffix because English is a monosuffixal language, so that the
comparative form of the adverb quickly is „quicker“ not „quicklier“.
Categorising words

 What all of this means is that a word belonging to a given class

may have only some of the relevant morphological properties
 For example
although the adjective „fat“ has comparative/superlative forms
in „-er“/“-est“, it has no negative „un-“ counterpart, and no adverb counterpart in „–ly“

 So, given the potential problems which arise with morphological

criteria, it is unwise to rely solely on morphological evidence in
determining categorial status: rather, we should use
morphological criteria in conjunction with syntactic criteria
Functional categories
Functional categories

 Function words – words which serve primarily to carry information

about the grammatical function of particular types of expression
within the sentence (gram. properties such as person, number, gender,
case etc.)
 The differences between content and function words can be illustrated by comparing a (contentive)
noun like „car“ with a (functional) pronoun like „they“

- a noun like „car“ is obvious descriptive; an object which typically has four wheels and an
engine, and it would be easy to draw a picture of it.
- by contrast, a pronoun „they“ has no descriptive content (you can’t draw a picture of
„they“), but rather is a functor which encodes grammatical properties; it is a third-person-
plural nominative pronoun
Functional words

 One test of whether words have descriptive content is to see

whether they have antonyms (i.e. opposites)
- if a word has an antonym, it is a content word
 For example
- Noun „loss“ has the antonym „gain“
- Verb „rise“ has the antonym „fall“
- Adjective „tall“ has the antonym „short“
- Adverb „early“ has the antonym „late“
- Preposition „inside“ has the antonym „outside“
Functional categories

 This reflects the fact that nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and
prepositions typically have substantive descriptive content, and so
are content words.
 Lexical categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and
prepositions
 Functional categories: particles, auxiliaries, determiners, pronouns
and complementisers
Determiners and
quantifiers
Determiners and quantifiers

 Determiners - they determine the referential properties of the noun

expression which follows them
 (Referential) determiners are used to introduce referring
expressions.
 An expression like „the car“ in a sentence
„Shall we take the car?“
is a referring expression in the sense that it is typically used to refer to a specific car which is
assumed to be familiar to the hearer/addressee.
Determiners and quantifiers

 A related class of words are those which belong to the category

quantifier and this is traditionally said to include items like those
bold-printed below:
Most good comedians tell some bad jokes
Many students have no money
Every true Scotsman hates all Englishmen
Each exercise contains several examples

 Such items are termed quantifiers because they serve to quantify the
noun expression which follows them.
Determiners and quantifiers

 Since determiners and quantifiers are positioned in front of nouns

(e.g. „the boys“ and „many boys“)

and adjectives can similarly be positioned in front of nouns

(e.g. „tall boys“)
 An obvious question to ask at this point is why we couldn’t just say
that the determiners/quantifiers have the categorial status of
adjectives
Determiners and quantifiers

 One reason for not subsuming determiners/quantifiers within the

category of adjectives is that they are syntactically distinct from
adjectives in a variety of ways
 For example, adjectives can be repeatedly stacked in front of a
noun they modify, in the sense that you can go on putting more and
more adjectives in front of a given noun.
handsome strangers
dark handsome strangers
tall dark handsome strangers
sensitive tall handsome strangers
Determiners and quantifiers

 By contrast, neither determiners nor quantifiers can be stacked in

this way
 So that although we can have a quantifier+determiner+noun
expression like
„both the twins“
 We cannot have a multiple determiner expression like
„the these books“
 Or a multiple quantifier expression such as
„all both twins“
Determiners and quantifiers

 Moreover, determiners, quantifiers and adjectives can be used

together to modify a noun, but when they do so, any determiner or
quantifier modifying the noun has to precede any adjective(s)
modifying the noun
The same old excuses [determiner+adjective+adjective+noun]
Same the old excuses [adjective+determiner+adjective+noun]
Same old the excuses [adjective+adjective+determiner+noun]
Pronouns
Pronouns

 Traditionally viewed as a class of words which are said to „stand in

place of“ or „refer back to“ noun expressions.
 However, there are reasons to think that there is a number of different
types of pronouns

„John has a red car and Jim has a blue one.“

„I‘ll take the green apples if you haven‘t got any red ones“
Pronouns

„John has a red car and Jim has a blue one.“

„I‘ll take the green apples if you haven‘t got any red ones“

One behaves like a regular count noun here – it has the „–s“ plural
form ones and is in a position in which a count noun could occur
BUT is is a Pronoun because it has no descriptive content of it‘s
own, but rather descriptive content from the word before (refers
back to the noun car
= one is a PRONOUN
 These pronouns are called N-pronouns (or pronominal nouns)
Pronouns

„All guests are welcome“ / „All are welcome“

„Many miners died in the accident“ / „Many died in the accident“

 For contrast, in these examples we can see that the bold printed
pronouns seem to serve as pronominal quantifier and in the first
(italic) occurence, it is a prenominal (noun-preceeding) quantifier
which modifies a following noun expression
 These pronouns are called Q-pronouns (or Pronominal quantifiers)
Pronouns

 Third type of pronouns is called D-pronouns (or Pronominal

determiners)
„I prefer this tie“ / „I prefer this“
„I haven‘t read that book“ / „I haven‘t read that“
 These items (in italic) can also serve as prenominal determiners
which modify a following noun
Pronouns

 Last type of pronouns are Personal pronouns (I, me, we, us, you,
he, him, her, it, they, them)
 Encode grammatical properties of person
 They can be categorized into:
 First-person pronouns
 Second-person pronouns
 Third-person pronouns

 Personal pronouns differ morphologically from nouns and other

pronouns because they generally have a distinc nominative,
accusative and genetive forms
Auxilaries
Auxilaries

 Used to be verbs but later on became their own category

 They are used to mark grammatical properties associated with the
relevant verb such as tense, aspect, voice or mood

He has/had – gone (perfect/progressive aspect)

She is/was – staying… (passive voice)
You must – finish (modal aux.)
Auxilaries

 There are syntactic differences between auxilaries and verbs

 Aux. can undergo inversion (can be moved into pre-subject position)
 (a) Can you speak Japanese?
 (b) Does he smoke?
 (c) Is it raining?

 By contrast, verbs do not permit inversion, but they require what

is traditionally called DO-support (inverted forms which require
auxilary DO)
 Intends he to come? *
 Does he intend to come?
 Saw you the mayor? *
 Did you see the mayor?
Auxilaries

 Second difference between auxilaries and verbs is that auxilaries can

be negated by not (in the form of n‘t)
 John could not/couldn‘t come to the party

 By contrast, verbs cannot be directly negated by not/n‘t

 They like not/liken‘t me *
 They do not/don‘t like me

 Lastly, auxilaries can appear in sentence-final tags and verbs canot

without the usage of DO-tags
 He won‘t win, will he? – sentence-final tag
 You like her, do you? – verb followed by DO-tag
Infinitival to
Infinitival to

 TO is an expression containing a verb in the infinitive form

 (a) I wonder whether to…
 In the late 1970s, Chomsky suggested that there are some
similarities between Infinitival to and the auxilary should
 (a) It‘s vital that John should show an interest
 (b) It‘s vital for John to show interest
Infinitival to

 Should and inf.-TO both require verb in infinitive form, Infinitival

TO behaves like a typical auxilary but unlike typical non-auxilary
verbs allows ellipsis/omission of its complement
 I don‘t really want to go to the dentist‘s, but I know I should
 I know I should go to the dentist‘s, but I just don‘t want to
Infinitival to

 Chomsky suggested that the resulting category (finite

auxilaries and infinitival TO) be labelled INFL or Inflection
(INFL later replaced by I)
 Finite auxiliaries and infinitival to both have (visible or
invisible) tense properties, we can assign the two of them to
the same category of T/Tense marker
 The difference between them is sometimes said to be that auxilaties carry finite tense
(did, does) and infinitival to carries non-finite tense
Complementisers
(COMP or C)
Complementisers (COMP or C)

 = a term used to describe the kind of (italicised) word which is

used to introduce complement clauses such as those bracketed
below:
1. (a) I think [that you may be right]
(b) I doubt [if you can help me]
(c) I’m anxious [for you to receive the best treatment possible]
COMPARE THEM WITH:
2. (a) ∗I think [that you to be right]
(b) ∗I doubt [if you to help me]
(c) ∗I’m anxious [for you should receive the best treatment possible]
Example number 1 serves 3 grammatical
functions:

1. the clause they introduce is an embedded clause

2. they serve to indicate whether the clause they introduce is finite
or non-finite
3. complementisers mark the force of the clause they introduce
Complementisers (COMP or C)

 (41)
(a) He headed straight/right for the pub [for = preposition]
(b) The dog went straight/right for her throat [for = preposition]
(c) ∗He was anxious straight/right for nobody to leave [for =
complementiser]
(d) ∗It is vital straight/right for there to be peace [for =
complementiser]
Complementisers (COMP or C)

 (42)
(a) For him to resign would cause chaos [= for-clause]
(b) For him would cause chaos [= for-phrase]
 (43)
(a) She was surprised at [there to be nobody to meet her]
(b) I’m not sure about [you to be there]
(c) I have decided against [us to go there]
Complementisers (COMP or C)

(44)

(a) I am against capitulating/ ∗capitulate
(b) Try and do it without complaining/ ∗complain
(c) Think carefully before deciding/ ∗decide
(45)
(a) I will vote for Senator Megabucks in the primaries
(b) Which senator will you vote for in the primaries? [= informal
style]
(c) For which senator will you vote in the primaries? [= formal style]
Complementisers (COMP or C)

 (46)
(a) They were anxious for Senator Megabucks to keep his cool
(b) Which senator were they anxious for to keep his cool?
(c) For which senator were they anxious to keep his cool?
 (47)
(a) Is it really necessary for there to be a showdown?
(b) Is it really necessary that there (should) be a showdown?
Complementisers (COMP or C)

 (48)
(a) We are heading for a general strike
(b) We are heading that there (will) be a general strike
Labelled bracketing
Labelled bracketing

- each word is enclosed in a pair of square brackets, and the lefthand

member of each pair of brackets is given an appropriate subscript
category label to indicate what category the word belongs to.
N = noun V = verb
A = adjective ADV = adverb
P = preposition D/DET = determiner
Q = quantifier T = tense-marker
C/COMP = complementiser PRN = pronoun
Labelled bracketing

 Example sentence:

 Any experienced journalist knows that he can sometimes

manage to lure the unsuspecting politician into making
unguarded comments
Labelled bracketing

 [Q Any] [A experienced] [N journalist] [V knows] [C

that] [PRN he] [T can] [ADV sometimes] [V manage]
[T to] [V lure] [D the] [A unsuspecting] [N politician]
[P into] [V making] [A unguarded] [N comments]
Grammatical features
Grammatical features

 Using grammatical features, we can describe:

the person/number/gender/case properties of the pronoun he in terms of the features
[3-Pers, Sg-Num, Masc-Gen, Nom-Case] i.e. ‘Third-Person, Singular-Number,
Masculine-Gender, Nominative-Case’.
Each of these features comprises:
1. an attribute (i.e. a property like person, number, gender or case)
and
2. a value (which can be first/second/third for person,
singular/plural for number, masculine/feminine/neuter for gender,
and nominative/accusative/genitive for case)