Chapter Six Syntax IIPhrase Structure Rules.docx

Chapter Six Syntax IIPhrase Structure Rules.docx

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ChapterSixSyntaxIIPhraseStructureRules

ChapterSixSyntax（II）---PhraseStructureRules

0.Introduction

i.Chapter5mentionsthatsentencesmaybestudiedintwoways:

eitherstaticallyordynamically.

ii.However,TGgrammarclaimsthatthestaticstudyofsentencesonlydealswithonelevelofstructure,thatis,surfacestructure,butthedynamicstudyofsentencesisconcernedwithtwolevelsofstructure:

bothsurfacestructureanddeepstructure.

iii.Furthermore,TGgrammarhasassumedthat,togeneratesentences,westartwithdeepstructuresandthentransformthemintosurfacestructures.Deepstructuresaregeneratedbyphrasestructurerules（PSrules）andsurfacestructuresarederivedfromtheirdeepstructuresbytransformationalrules（T-rules）.

Thefollowingdiagrammayhelpusclarifytherelationofthetwotypesofruleswiththetwokindsofstructures:

Inthischapter,weshallfocusonPSrulesandhowtoapplyPSrulestogeneratedeepstructures.Inthenextchapter,weshalldiscussT-rulesandhowtoapplyT-rulestotransformdeepstructuresintosurfacestructures.

1.Surfacestructureanddeepstructure

i.Introduction:

Beforewestudyphrasestructurerules,wemustfirstdiscusstwofundamentalconcepts:

surfacestructureanddeepstructure.Sincethesetwoconceptsaredifficulttounderstand,weshallfirstlookatsomeconcreteexamples.

A.Thechickenistoohottoeat.

Thissentencehasstructuralambiguity.Itmaybeunderstoodintwoways:

a.Thechickenissohotthatitcannoteatanything.

b.Thechickenissohotthatpeoplecannoteatit.

Intermsofsurfacestructure,wecangetonlyonephrasemarker:

Butintermsofthelevelofdeepstructure,SentenceAisrelatedtotwodistinctdeepstructures.Theycouldberepresentedbythefollowingtwophrasemarkers:

However,theyhaveonlyonecommondeepstructure,whichisverymuchlikethesurfacestructureoftheactivesentence.Itcouldberepresentedbethefollowingdiagram:

C.Johniseasytoplease.

Thissentencehasnostructuralambiguity.Ithasonesurfacestructureandonedeepstructure.

Itssurfacestructurewouldbelikethefollowingdiagram:

Itsdeepstructurewouldbelikethefollowingdiagram:

ii.Differencesbetweensurfacestructureanddeepstructure:

1）Asurfacestructurecorrespondsmostcloselytothelineararrangementofwordsastheyarepronounced;adeepstructurecorrespondsmostcloselytothemeaningfulgroupingofwords.

2）Asurfacestructureisrelativelyconcrete;adeepstructureisabstract.

3）Asurfacestructuregivestheformofasentenceasitisusedincommunication;adeepstructuregivesthemeaningofasentence.

4）Asurfacestructureispronounceable;adeepstructureisnotpronounceable.

2.Ageneraldescriptionofphrasestructurerules

TGgrammarsaysthatphrasestructurerulescangeneratedeepstructuresofsentences.Theycanspecifythelinearorderingofwords,thehierarchicalarrangementofconstituentsandthesyntacticcategoryofeachconstituent.Theymakeeverythingexplicitthatisneededfordeterminingthemeaningofasentence.

TogeneratethedeepstructureofanEnglishsentence,wealwaysstartwiththerule:

S→NPAUXVP

ThisrulemeansthatwemayrewriteSasNPAUXVP.Inotherwords,theruleclaimsthatallgrammaticalsentencesinEnglishconsistofthreeelements:

NP,AUXandVP.Andthesethreeelementsalwaysappearinthatorder.Therulecanberepresentedbythefollowingtree-branchdiagram:

ThenhowdoweexpandNP,AUXandVPrespectively?

Thefollowingsectionswilldiscusstheprocessesofexpandingthemonebyone.

3.Nounphrase

Lookingatthesefourrules,weshallintroducetwoterms:

compulsoryconstituent强制成分andoptional选择成分constituent.TheconstituentwhichisalwayspresentontherightsideofthearrowofaPSruleiscalledacompulsoryconstituent.Theconstituentswhichmaybepresentorabsentontherightsideofthearrowarecalledoptionalconstituents.

WemaycombineRule1,Rule2,Rule3andRule4intoonebyputtingtheoptionalconstituentsinbrackets:

NP→（Det）（AP）N

Thisruleindicatesfourphrasestructurepossibilities:

i.anounprecededbyaDet;

ii.anounonly;

iii.anounprecededbyanAP;

iv.anounprecededbybothDetandAP

Thisphrasemarkerseemstohavenoending.Sucharuleiscalledarecursiverule.Theruleswithrecursiveproperty循环性特征canaccountforthecreativeaspectoflanguage.

Lookattheexamplesin（32）onPP150-151andtrytodrawtheirdeepstructurephrasemarkers.

4.Verbphrases

i.Introduction:

ThusfarwehavediscussedhowtoconstructthePSrulesfornounphrasesandhowtogeneratenounphrasesbythePSrules.NowweshallstudyverbphrasesandthePSrulesforgeneratingverbphrases.

ii.Twopointstobeclarified:

Beforeweproceedtothetopicitself,wehavetoclarifytwopointsaboutthetermverbinTGgrammar.

A.Firstly,anEnglishverbnormallyhasfiveforms:

thebase,thepresent,thepast,thepastparticipleandthepresentparticiple.Butinthedeepstructure,verbsalwaystakethebaseform.Thatistosay,atthelevelofdeepstructure,theinflectionalendingsdonotoccurtogetherwiththeverbs.Theyareseparatedfromtheverbsandarepartofanauxiliaryphrase.

B.Secondly,theverbsinverbphrasesarecalledmainverbs.Theotherverbsarehelpingverbs.Thehelpingverbsarealsopartofanauxiliaryphrase.

ThuswecansayAUX=inflectionalendingsofverbs+helpingverbsForexample,inthefollowingsentence:

iii.ConstructingthePSrulesforverbphrases:

Nowconsiderthefollowingdata,andtrytoconstructthePSrulesfortheverbphrasesineachgroup.

Therewouldbenolimitonthelengthofasentenceasshowninthediagram.Thisalsoindicatedthecreativeaspectoflanguage.

Nowlet'sjoinRules7to11together:

Thisruleindicatesfivepossibilitiesofaverbphrase.

iv.举例：

laythebabyinthecrib

5.Auxiliaryphrases助动词短语

5.0Introduction:

InTGgrammar,anauxiliaryphraseconsistsoffourcomponents:

tense时态,modalverbs情态动词,theperfectaspect完成体andtheprogressiveaspect进行体.Nowweshalldiscussthemonebyone.

5.1Tense

Inthethreesentencesgivenabove,thereisonlytenseinAUX.ThuswecanconstructaPSruleforAUX:

Accordingtotheserules,wecandrawthedeepstructurephrasemarkersofsentencesA,BandC:

YoumightfeelstrangewhyweexpandTenseintoeitherPresentorPast.Herewewanttoemphasizeoneimportantpoint.InTGgrammar,thereareonlytwotenses:

presentandpast.TGgrammariansarguethattensehastobeestablishedbasedontheinflectionalendingsoftheverb.

Tounderstandthispoint,weshouldmakeacleardistinctionbetweentenseandtime.Tenseisagrammaticalcategory,buttimeisasemanticcategory.Let'slookatsomeexamples:

（请参考161页上（47）、（48））

5.2Modalverbs

InTGgrammar,modalverbsincludecan,may,will,shallandmustinthepresenttense;could,might,wouldandshouldinthepasttense.

Lookatthefollowingsentences:

Accordingtothesentencesgivenabove,wemayconstructPSrulesasfollows:

Withtherules,wemaydrawthedeepstructurephrasemarkerforanyofthesentences.Let'stakesentenceBforexample:

5.3Perfect

Accordingtothesesentences,wemayconstructanotherPSruleforAUX:

Nowlet'sdrawthedeepstructurephrasemarkerforsentenceA:

5.4Progressive

Accordingtothedatagivenabove,anewPSrulemaybeconstructed:

Now,let'sdrawthedeepstructurephrasemarkerforsentencesAandB:

Sofar,wehavediscussedthe4componentsofAUXrespectively.Actuallywehaveexamined4possiblestructuresofAUX. Rule13-Rule16

However,thesearenottheonlypossiblecombinations.Lookatthefollowingsentences:

Nowlet'sanalyzethestructuresofthesesentencesfromthelevelofdeepstructure:

6.Sentences

SofarwehavediscussedallthePSruleswhichareusedtogenerateNP,VP,AUX,APandPP.Nowwecanexaminetheprocessbywhichawholesentenceisgenerated.

Forexample:

1）Marywaited.2）Thenaughtygirlputthebeautifulbookunderthedesk.3）Ibelievehewillcome.4）Shemighthavebeenwaitingforus.

Thedeepstructuresofthesesentencesmayberepresentedbythefollowingtree-branchdiagrams:

Exercises

1.Explainthedistinctionbetweenthefollowingtermsasclearasyoucan:

（a）deepstructureandsurfacestructure;

InTGgrammar,adeepstructureisgeneratedbyphrasestructurerules.Itisabstractanddecidesthemeaningofasentence.Asurfacestructureisderivedfromitscorrespondingdeepstructurebytransformationalrules.Itisrelativelyconcreteanddecidestheactualfromofasentence.

（b）phrasestructurerulesandtransformationalrules.

InTGgrammar,phrasestructurerulescangeneratethedeepstructureofasentence;transformationalrulesareappliedtoderivethesurfacefromitsdeepstructure.

2.ExpandthefollowingcollapsedPSrulesintotheindividualrulesthattheyabbreviate:

3.combinethefollowingindividualrulesintoone:

4.Drawthedeepstructurephrasemarkersforthefollowingphrases:

（a）youngboys

aninterestingstory

thecharmingoldEnglishchurch

（b）ateacake

stoodintheway

putthepictureonthewall

said（that）Iwouldleave

（c）couldsingasong

hasgonetoBeijing

areworking

couldbeworking

mighthavebeenathome

mighthavebeenreading

mighthavebeenmakingachair

5.Pointoutthemistakesinthefollowingdeepstructurephrasemarkersandmakecorrectionswherenecessary.）

6.Writedownthephrasestructurerulesthatcangenerateeachofthefollowingsentences（Note:

Combinetwoormoreindividualrulesinto