Syntax 1 Wiki: Week 6

Types of Phrases

Head-Complement Phrases

A head-complement phrase can be formed by combining a word [= the head daughter] with 1 or 2 signs [= the non-head daughter(s)] whose syntactic categories can be unified with the syntactic categories on the word’s comps list.

Schema 1: The head licenses a single complement

This schema licenses the following structure:
XP -> X + COMPS
Examples:

• [PP [H of][C Lilly]]
• [AP [H fond][C of Lilly]]
• [VP [H likes][C Fido]]
• [VP [H speaks][C to Fido]]

Schema 2: The head licenses two complements

This schema licenses the following structure:
XP -> X + COMPS
Examples:

• [VP [H show][C me][C Frankfurt]]
• [VP [H give][C the book][C to the student]]
• [VP [H put][C the book][C on the table]]

Head-Specifier Phrases

A head-specifier phrase can be formed by combining a sign [= the head daughter] with a second sign [= the non-head daughter] whose syntactic category can be unified with the syntactic category on the word’s spr list:

This schema licenses the following structures:

• NP -> D NP
  • [NP [SPR the][H student]]
  • [NP [SPR those][H apples]]
• S -> NP VP
  • [S [SPR Lilly][H smokes]]
  • [S [SPR Lilly][H likes Fido]]
  • [S [SPR The student][H showed a cat to Fido]]

Head-Modifier Phrases

There are 3 kinds of head-modifier phrases.
a. A Head-modifier phrase can be formed by combining an adjectival sign [= the non-head daughter] with a nominal sign [= the head daughter] which is comps-complete but is sill looking for its specifier.

This schema licenses the following structure:

• NP -> A NP
  • [NP [MOD happy][H student]]
  • [NP [MOD big][H cat]]
  • [NP [MOD huge][H interest in languages]]

Phrase Formation

Here is the file that we went through in class this week:

File:Phrase-Formation-Version3.pdf

Link to the Online Grammar

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