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Questions tagged [syntax]

The study of the internal structure of expressions, especially between words and phrases, and the principles and processes that determine it. This includes words order, but also the grammatical relations that hold between words, as well as structural ambiguity, binding, reference, and similar issues. Common approaches are numerous phrase structure grammars (GPSG, HPSG, LFG, G&B, X-bar, Minimalism, ...) and, on the other hand, dependency grammars.

Syntax refers not just to the study, but also to the rules that govern this arrangement and to the Linguistics branch that studies it.

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Are there any languages that don't permit instrumental subjects?

In English, and no doubt in many other languages, instruments can be subjects. We can speak not only of John (an agent) cutting the canvas, but also of the knife (an instrument) cutting the canvas. As others have pointed out, though I can't find…
James Grossmann
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Why are affix hopping and head movement considered as distinct operations?

Affix hopping is a morphological operation by which an unattached affix in the T position is lowered onto a verb. This attachment is done by the "Phonetic Form component" (the posited component in the mind that transforms the inputs it receives from…
Otavio Macedo
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How exactly does an obviate proximate system work?

There seems to be some controversy about how an obviate proximate system works. I get that it doesn't work like a nominative-accusative or ergative-absolutive system. In some attempts to illustrate obviate-proximate systems, multiple sentences are…
MatthewMartin
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What are parasitic gaps?

In 2001 M.I.T. Press published a volume titled Parasitic Gaps, edited by Peter W. Cullicover and Paul M. Postal. Its preface begins as follows: Parasitic gaps (P-gaps) represented by the underlined gaps subscripted p in example (1), have been an…
Michael Hardy
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Can the word "said" be a determiner in written English?

Consider sentences like this one. "Reluctant to place the dog and the children in the same houses as caretakers affected by the slobbering sickness, the authorities decreed that said children would be placed in the care of the Church of the Fiery…
James Grossmann
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Have very many linguists studied the structure of sentence fragments used in informal conversation?

Have very many linguists studied the structure of sentence fragments used in informal conversation in a given language? In the course of informal conversation, we English speakers use lots of sentence fragments to answer questions (e.g. (It's)…
James Grossmann
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What does it mean for a control verb to semantically select its arguments?

I'm attempting to better understand what a control verb is. The Wikipedia definition seems clear enough. But the definition in this other Wikipedia article, about Control, was harder for me to understand. Here's one quote from the article whose…
James Grossmann
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What is the difference between transitive and intransitive finite complementizers?

I know that an intransitive verb accepts only one argument, i.e., the subject. So, such verbs do not need a complement. But how could one understand the concept of an intransitive complementizer, in Chomskyan syntax? After all, isn’t the very nature…
Otavio Macedo
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Different ways languages use adjectives as arguments?

I'm not sure how to word this. I'm not talking about languages where adjectives can act as nouns on their own. I'm talking about when 'states' are used as arguments. An example in this is the phrase; She wants to see him dead. Here, 'dead' isn't a…
user8600
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What do letters in square brackets, V, C, U in words mean?

This may be a dumb question but what do letters in brackets mean? I was reading an article about the West Bomberai languages when i came across: I saw something like: *[a/o]n *k[a/o] I saw this everywhere including the proto-language of the…
Rydex
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relationship between C-command and Binding

What is the relationship between C-command, binding and Co-reference? Does it mean that C-command is the precondition of binding? Can somebody help me get clearer about these three terms?
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Have generative grammarians abandoned the notion of transformations?

When I peruse this site and others, I find references to apparent operations that change either one surface structure to another (as with passivization) or a deep structure to a surface structure (as with raising). Is the notion of…
James Grossmann
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Why can I coordinate direct object + verbal adjuncts?

I am coming up with constituency tests to distinguish between complements and adjuncts. But I was thrown off by the fact that I can coordinate "the jam to Pam on a holiday" as if it is a constituent. But "to Pam" and "on a holiday" should be…
user393454
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Where does the * sign of ungrammaticality come from?

Where does the * sign of ungrammaticality come from? Was there any reason for choosing exactly this sign?
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Are complement clauses with finite verbs noun phrases?

Are complement clauses that contain finite verbs be noun phrases? Consider English's "that" complementizer. A. Clauses introduced with "that" can be be replaced with pronouns. (1) I know that the insects will rule the Earth. --> I know…
James Grossmann
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