Harvard Linguistics 110 - Class 19 X Bar

Linguistics 110 Class 19 (12/2/02)

Zhang/Öztürk/Quinn

The X’ Theory of Tree Structure (1) Tree structures • Series of nodes, joined by branches • Each non-terminal node represents a constituent; nodes are labeled with the category of that constituent • Root node, terminal node • Branching node • Hierarchical relations among nodes: — Dominance — Immediate dominance — Immediate constituent of — Mother, daughter, sister mother → daughter daughter mother

root branchei node terminal branchei branch node terminal terminal node node

ru

daughter

daughter

(2) Tree structure of an NP • What could an NP look like? (a) man, book, Mary, exercises (b) a man, every book, those exercises, no student (c) Mary’s book, the man’s dog, this computer’s hard drive (d) pictures of my dad, the destruction of the city, the nectar of the gods, the man in black (e) those rumors that Professor West will leave Harvard the fact that he has not shown up for work for three days Bill’s complaint that the service was poor • It looks like… NP egi Spec N Compl • the picture of my dad and video of my mom the destruction of the city and massacre of its people the man in black and woman in blue These rumors that Professor West will leave Harvard are not as detailed as those ones. Bill’s complaint that the service was poor was not as effective as Roy’s ___.

1

NP ru Spec N’ ru N Compl • More NPs: the beautiful garden, the tall, young, talented actor, every interesting book about language What should the AP be attached to in the tree? Compare: The book was worth buying. *The a book was worth buying. *Book was worth buying. The exciting book was worth buying. The exciting new book was worth buying. The exciting new little book was worth buying. The exciting new little red book was worth buying. ➥ AP in an NP can be repeated essentially without limit. The old books and new CDs are on sale in the bookstore. Hank bought an exciting book yesterday and bought another one today. ➥ AP forms a constituent with the noun. ➥ AP is an adjunct in an NP. NP ru Spec N’ ru Adjunct N’ ru N Compl • Can you draw the tree for: every book, every interesting book, every interesting book about language, Bill’s book? (Consider Bill’s as a PossP—possessive phrase) • More adjunct in NP: every interesting book about language in my backpack the destruction of the city in two days pictures of my parents on my desk How do you draw the trees for these? (3) Tree structure of a VP? • What could a VP look like? (a) run, sleep, eat, jump (b) eat breakfast, read a book, watch a movie 2

(c) put the book on the table give a book to Jason show an example to the class (d) thought that Gore would win hope that the he will call me wait for Dan to cook dinner (e) promised my parents that I will visit them soon whispered to Balkiz that I hated syntax tell Mary that I will be there • VP structure: VP Ru V’ SSppeecc ru V Compl • Can you draw the trees for eat breakfast, put the book on the table, give a book to Jason? ATTENTION: We adopt Stabler’s approach to double complements, not Crain and LilloMartin’s. I.e., we use ternary branching! • Adjuncts in VP: Compare: I gave a book to Jason. *I gave a book. *I gave Jason. I played basketball on Sunday. I played basketball. I played basketball on Sunday in the gym. I played basketball on Sunday in the gym near MIT. I played basketball on Sunday in the gym near MIT for hours. VP Ru V’ SSppeecc ru V’ Adjunct ru V Compl • More adjuncts in VP: I quickly ate an apple. I greatly enjoyed the game. I truly madly deeply passionately deliciously love you. I half-heartedly played basketball on Sunday. How do you draw the trees for half-heartedly played basketball on Sunday?

3

(4) Tree structure of a PP • What could a PP look like? (a) in, up (b) on the stage, up the hill, by car (c) on the stage of the theater, up the hill in LA PP Ru P’ SSppeecc ru P Compl • Can you draw the trees for on the stage, on the stage of the theater? (5) Tree structure of an AP • What could an AP look like? (a) afraid, angry, important (b) afraid of him, afraid of heights, fond of Mary, angry at Dan, important to Bill (c) afraid of him in some ways, fond of Mary for no particular reason (d) terribly afraid of him, totally angry at Dan, truly important to Bill • AP structure: AP Ru A’ SSppeecc ru A’ Adjunct ru Adjunct A’ ru A Compl (6) X’-Theory • All phrasal categories (XP) have the same structure. • Each XP must contain a head of the same lexical category (X). • Each XP can contain a specifier, and must contain an intermediate level category (X’). XP → (Spec) X’ • X’ introduces X, and possibly a complement; i.e., a complement is a sister of the head X. X’ → X (Compl) • Adjuncts combine with X’ to form another X’; i.e., an adjunct is a sister of X’. XP ru Spec X’ ru X Compl 4

• Different languages have the same structure for phrasal categories, but may have different orders between a head and a complement, or a specifier and a X’. ➥ Korean: I noin-i hakkyo this man-Nom school ‘This man went to school.’

ey kassta to went

What’s the order between a head and complement in PPs and VPs in Korean? ➥ Selayarese (Austronesian, Indonesia): La/allei doe/ injo i-Baso. took money the Baso ‘Baso took the money.’ What’s the order between a specifier and an N’?

5