句法学.docx

句法学.docx

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句法学

Take-HomeExamB.A.CourseSyntax2010

I.Formthreeminimalpairsandprovideanaccountforeachofthem.（30%）.

（1）aWhatdoesWilliamsregretthatJohnsonbought?

bWhatdoesWilliamsthinkthatJohnsonbought?

a中由于regret的补助语的事件是预设的，事件内的论元是存在的（无论后悔与否事件及其论元都是存在的）。

因此论元是独立依存的，不能所指依存Williams关于此事件的regret.所以从regret补助语的提取是不可能的。

相反，（1b）中的think的补助语内事件的确定依存thinking的行为，因此论元所指依存事件，这样提取就是合法的。

若使（1a）合法，必须建立一个话语场景，regretting是预设的并且其内容是被提问的，如此才能允许所指依存，这要求特殊的对比语调。

所指依存的另一个重要部分就是确定（definite）所指，如果论元是确定的，那么是独立所指，无需所指依存事件，反之，就需要所指依存。

主题的提取同样受到所指依存限制。

（2）aWhodidJohnbelievetheclaimthatBrownisdating?

bWhodidJohnmaketheclaimthatBrownisdating?

在（2a）中，theclaim有固定的所指，无论John相信与否；而在（2b）中，有轻动词结构，致使事件makingtheclaim和claiming一样，复杂NP无法有确定所指，其内论元可以所指依存事件。

（3）a这本书，我没见过一个能读懂的人。

b这本书，我没见过那个能读懂的人。

（3a）中复杂NP是不确定所指的，因此NP内论元和所指成分可以喝动词形成的事件构成所指依存关系。

如果把“一个”换成“那个”，那就不同了。

显然（3b）中的NP具有所指的确定性，其内变量是独立依存的，无法所指依存主题算子域内动词形成事件，所以句子不可接受。

（4）aWhowillteachwhat?

bwhatwillwhoteach?

多元wh问句中，语类α非对称地成分统制（asymmetricallyc-command）β，那么α则比β具有先进行移位的优势。

于是，处于主语位置的wh短语优于宾语位置的wh短语，如果宾语wh短语跨越wh短语移入句首Spec-CP位置则违背优势条件（superioritycondition）.这里who的句法位次高于what,所以（4a）中的who优于what而先期移至Spec-CP位置，遵循优势条件，句子合乎语法；（4b）中的who原位不动，而句法位次低的what移至句首，违背优势条件，句子不合法。

（5）aForhertobeatMarywouldbedifficult.

bHertobeatMarywouldbedifficult.

Non-finiteIoftheinfinitivalclauseis“weak”andcan’tassigncasetothe[Spec,IP].ItisnotgovernorandthatitsprojectionIPcan’tblockoutsidegovernment.Hence（5b）violatescasefilterwhichclaimsthateveryovertNPmustbeassignedabstractcase.“Her“can’tbeassignedcase.So（5b）isillegal.In（5a）,“for”cangovernintonon-finiteIPandcase-markitssubject.Theprepositionalcomplementizerforin（5a）case-marksthesubjectNPoftheinfinitivalclause:

（5a）passesthecasefilterandisgrammatical.　

（6）aMaryithinksthatherselfiisthebestactor.

bMaryithinksthatapictureofherselfiwillbebeautiful.

In（6a）thefinitesubordinateclausecontainsthereflexive,itsgovernor（I）andanaccessiblesubject（AGR）andwillconstitutethebindingdomaininwhichthereflexivemustbebound.TheAGRisanaccessiblesubjectbecauseherselfandAGRiniscanbecoindexedwithoutviolating.SoherselfandMarycan’tbecoindexed.Sothesentence（6a）isillegal.In（6b）,thegovernorofherselfisof,thepreposition.InordefortheNPsubjectofthelowerclause[apictureofherself]tobeaccessible,wemustbeabletocoindexitwiththereflexive.Thiscoindexationisbannedbecauseitwouldviolatethei-within-Ifilter.Besides,theAGRofthelowerclausecouldn’tbecountedasanaccessiblesubject.GiventhattheentireNPin（6b）isthesubjectNPofthesentenceitiscoindexedwithAGRbyvirtueofitspersonandnumberagreement.ThecoindexationofherselfwithAGRwouldagainviolatethei-within-Ifilter.Coindexationistransitive,henceherselfendsupbeingcoindexedwiththeNP.Sonoaccessiblesubjectisavailableinsidethefinitelowerclause.Next,weneedtoextendthebindingdomainofthereflexivetothenextclauseup:

thesubjectMary,ortheSUBJECT,AGR,can’tviolatethei-within-Ifilter.SoherselfandMarycanbeundercoindexation.Thesentenceof（6b）islegal.

IIExplainthefollowingcontrast（20%）.

1a.Johnwantstobehappy.=JohnwantsJohntobehappy

1b.Everyonewantstobehappy.Everyonewantseveryonetobehappy.

1.“John”isauniquereferent.“Johnwantstobehappy”,meansthatJohnwantsJohntobehappy.“everyone”isauniversalcategory,whichcanmeananyoneinthesociety.“everyone”canmeanMary,Kate,Joey,etc.“everyonewantstobehappy”canmean“MarywantsMarytobehappy”And“JoeywantsJoeytobehappy”,etc.So“everyonewantstobehappy”doesn’tequal“everyonewantseveryonetobehappy”.

2a.thestudentofphysicswithlonghair

2b.*thestudentwithlonghairofphysics

2c.thestudentofphysicsandchemistry

2d.thestudentwithlonghairand（with）abigmoustache

2e.*thestudentofphysicsandwithlonghair

2.Acommonsyntacticpatternisformedbygroupingtogethertwoormorecategoriesofthesametypewiththehelpofaconjunctionsuchasandoror.“thestudentofphysicsandwithlonghair”violatestheprincipleofcoordinationstructureswhichclaimthecategorytypeofthecoordinatephraseisidenticaltothecategorytypeoftheelementsbeingconjoined.“ofphysics”isthecomplementofverb.While“withlonghair”isanadjunctwhichisoptional.“thestudentwithlonghairofphysics”violatestheexpandedxprule.Thisruleallowsamodifiertooccureitherbeforetheheadorafterit.Wherethereisacomplement,amodifierthatfollowstheheadwillnormallyfollowthecomplementaswell.TheExpandedXPRule:

XP—（Spec）（Mod）X（Complement*）（Mod）.“withlonghair”isamodifier.“ofphysics”isacomplementofverb.

3a.JohntookabookfromMaryinordertoreadit.

3b.*JohnreceivedabookfromMaryinordertoreadit.

3.Inthesentence3b,“John”isassignedabeneficiaryroleby“receive”.Atthesametime,“John”isassignedaagentroleby“read.Itisimpossiblefor“John”tobebothabeneficiaryroleandanagentroleatthesametime.So3biswrong.

4a.*Poirotibelievesthathimselfiisthebestdetective.

4b.Poirotibelievesthatapictureofhimselfiwillbeonshow.

4.In（4a）,thefinitesubordinateclausecontainsthereflexive,itsgovernor（I）andanaccessibleSUBJECT（AGR）andwillconstitutethebindingdomaininwhichthereflexivemustbebound.ThecoindexationofthereflexiveandtheSUBJECTisunproblematic;himselfandAGRiniscanbecoindexedwithoutviolating.TheAGRisanaccessibleSUBJECT.MoreoverIisthegovernorofhimself.Thebingdingdomainofhimselfwillbethelowerclause.So,thebindingdomaincannotbeenlargedtocomprisethenexthigherclause.Thesentence（4a）iswrong.

In（4b）,mattersaredifferent.Inordertofinditsbindingdomain,weneedagovernorandanaccessiblesubject/SUBJECT.Thegovernorofhimselfisof,thepreposition.InorderfortheNPsubjectofthelowerclause[apictureofhimself]tobeaccessible,wemustbeabletocoindexitwiththereflexive.Thisconindexationisbannedbecauseitwouldviolatethei-within-Ifilter.Inaddition,giventhattheentireNPin（4b）isthesubjectNPofthesentenceitiscoindexedwithAGRbyvirtueofitspersonandnumberagreement.Thecoindexationofhimselfistransitive,hencehimselfendsupbeingcoindexedwiththeNP.SotheAGRofthelowerclausecouldn’tbecountedasanaccessiblesubject.Wecaninferthatnoaccessiblesubject/SUBJECTisavailableinsidethefinitelowerclause.Weneedtoextendthebindingdomainofthereflexivetothenextclauseup:

herethesubjectPoirotortheSUBJECT,AGR,canqualify:

coindexationwithhimselfwouldnotleadtoaviolationofthei-within-Ifilter.Sothebindingdomainisenlargedtocomprisethenexthigherclause.Thesentence（4a）isright.

5a.*Whatdidwhoread?

5b.Whichbookdidwhichstudentread?

Inthemultiplewhquestions,languageclassαasymmetricallyc-commandβbycompositioncontrol,thenalphaαhastheprioritytodisplacethanbetaβ.Then,thewh-phrasesinthesubjectpositionhastheprioritythanthewh-phrasesintheobjectposition.Ifthewh-phrasesintheobjectpositionmoveacrosswh-phrasesintoSpec-CPposition,itwillviolatethesuperioritycondition.In（5a）,thewhoinsituismotionlessandthewhat-phraseatthelowsyntacticpositionmovestothebeginningofsentence,againstthesuperioritycondition,sothesentenceisillegal.Inthesentence（5b）,mattersaredifferent.Which-NPownsthepresettingfunction,basedontheDiscourse-Linking.Whenanindividualaskedbyawh-phraseisextractedfromansetobvioustothespeakerandthelistener,orwhenawh-phrasescanbeexplainedaswhichofXmayleadtothedisappearanceofsuperioritycondition.So（5b）islegal.

6a.Thattheworldisroundisobvious.

6b.*isthattheworldisroundobvious?

6c.ForMarytoclimbthefencewouldsurpriseBill

6d.*wouldforMarytoclimbthefencesurpriseBill?

ThereisinternalNPclauseconstraint.ThosesentenceswhichcontainsaninternalNPthatexhaustivelydominatesSareungrammatical.Here,Iwanttosay,constituentAisinternalifitisneithertheleftmostnortherightmostconstituentofconstituentBthatimmediatelydominatesit.In（6a）,“thattheworldisround”isaninternalconstituentbecauseitisneithertheleftmostnortherightmostconstituentoftheINFELiswhichdominatesit.Sothesentenceof（6a）isillegal.In（6d）,“forMarytoclimbthefence“,whichisaninternalconstituentbecauseitisneithertheleftmostnortherightmostconstituentoftheINFELwouldwhichdominatesit,alsofollowstheinternalNPclauseconstraint.Sothesentenceof（6d）isillegal.

III.Inwhatwaysarealllanguagesthesame?

Howdolanguagesdiffer?

10%

Therearebothcommonalityanddifferencebetweenlanguages.Intermsofgenerativegrammar,thecommonalityisoriginatedfromthecommoninitialstatesharedbyhumanbeingswhilethedifferenceisduetothedifferentparametersselectionmadeduringtheiracquisitionoflanguages.

Alllanguagesarethesameintheuniversalgrammarandpersonalgrammar.Thecommoncharacteroflanguagecontainstwokindsofmeaning.Oneofthemeaningistheabsolutecommoncharacter,whichexistsineverylanguage.Suchas,languageabstract,languageobligation,languagecreativity.Theotheroneofmeaningsisthecomparativecommoncharacter,whichisconcludedfromallkindsoflanguage.Suchas,phonology,phonetics,grammar,semantics.Somepeoplethinkthatuniversalgrammar