Constraint-based Syntax 2: Week 3

Maximal phrase types

In Week 1, the following 3 phrase types were introduced: hd-subj-ph, hd-spr-ph, and hd-comp-ph.

Head-Specifier Phrases

Exercise: parse the 3 expressions cat, a, and a cat in order to see how the valence features of the noun drive the formation of the hd-spr-ph the cat.

Online Grammar for Chapter 2: HPSG Background

For the moment, there is little more to say about head-specifier phrases.

Clauses and non-clauses

Following traditional grammar, GS make use of the concept of clauses, i.e. declarative clauses, interrogative clauses, etc. All clauses are phrases, but there are of course non-clausal phrases as well, for instance, VPs, NPs, APs, and PPs. In order to license these non-clausal phrases, GS postulate the following subtypes of hd-comp-ph, to which we have added the subtype sbjn-vp to license subjunctive VPs:

Subtype	Full name	Example
fin-vp	Finite verb phrase	snores, likes Fido
sbjn-vp	Subjunctive verb phrase	dance, smile
nf-hc-ph	Non-finite head-complement phrase	dancing, depended on Fido, afraid of Fido, picture of Lilly
cp-ph	Complementizer phrase	that Lilly danced, for Lilly to like Fido

Exercise: parse all of the examples above and examine the structure of the respective phrases and how they are licensed by the information in the head daughter (HEAD, VFORM, and COMPS).

Online Grammar for Chapter 2: HPSG Background

Clauses

All clauses have in common that they are phrases and that they must have a content of type message, as follows:

Clause type	Full name	Content value	Examples
decl-clause	declarative clause	austinian	Lilly danced.
inter-clause	interrogative clause	question	Does Lilly dance?, Who danced?
imp-clause	imperative clause	outcome	Dance!
excl-clause	exclamative clause	fact	What a cat!, Is Lilly smart!

Head-Complement Phrases

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