Syntax 1 Wiki: Week 7

Topicalization

The probe

Exercises

I have added a probe to the online grammar. According to the Cambridge Dictionary to probe means to examine something with a tool, especially in order to find something that is hidden.

Our probe is a word that (apart from the word properties that follow from the type hierarchy) has only only distinguishing piece of information: its PHON (= phonology) attribute carries the value <probe>, i.e. that is its pronunciation.

• Go to the online grammar.
• Find the entry probe in the lexicon and click on it.
• In the upper righthand side of the screen, click the green button 6.
• Now click on the tree and inspect it.

(1)
a. Kim likes Robin.
b. Robin, Kim likes __.

(2)
a. Kim depends on Robin.
b. Robin, Kim depends on __.

(3)
a. Kim depends on Robin.
b. On Robin, Kim depends __.

(4)
a. Kim is fond of Robin.
b. Robin, Kim is fond of __.

(5)
a. Kim showed me a picture of Robin.
b. Robin, Kim showed me a picture of __.

(6)
a. Kim said I like Robin.
b. Robin, Kim said I like __.

(7)
a. Kim said I claimed she likes Robin.
b. Robin, Kim said I claimed she likes __.

Because preposing can in principle span arbitrarily many clauses, it is one example of a long distance dependency!

(8) * Robin, Kim smokes __.
(9) * To Robin, Kim likes __.
(10) * She, Kim likes __.
(11) * To Robin, Kim depends __.
(12) * Robin, Kim claims __ am sad.

Generalization:
An expression can be preposed from a position P if and only if it can also occur in position P itself!

The definition of the gap

This means the following:

• The gap is phonologically silent.
• The gap is like a joker card: since it is syntactically maximally unspecific, it can stand in for any sign whatsoever.
• The syntactic category of the gap also appears as the sole element on its gap list.

We distinguish between two kinds of phrases:

1. Stand(ard) phrases: hd-comp-ph, hd-spr-ph, hd-c-ph, sai-ph
2. Head-Filler phrases: top-ph, question

Remarks:

1. ⊕ is the list merger operator. (to merge = verschmelzen)
2. L1 ⊕ L2 is the new list L3 which contains all the elements of list L1 followed by all the elements of list L2.

Examples:

1. <> ⊕ < a > = < a >
2. < a > ⊕ <> = < a >
3. < a, a > ⊕ < a, b, c > = < a, a, a, b, c >

(word,

syn:pos:(v;d;p;c;a;adv)) *> (wh:minus).

(phrase,

syn:pos:vform:fin) *> (syn:pos:(main:(plus;minus),
                                inv:(plus;minus),
                                subj_gap:(plus;minus))).

(hd_spr_ph,

syn:pos:(v,
         vform:fin),
non_head_dtrs:[(phon:e_list)]) *> syn:pos:subj_gap:plus.

(hd_spr_ph,

syn:pos:(v,
         vform:fin),
non_head_dtrs:[(phon:ne_list)]) *> syn:pos:subj_gap:minus.

(wh_ph,

syn:pos:main:minus) *> (syn:pos:inv:minus).

(wh_ph,

head_dtr:syn:pos:(main:plus,
                  subj_gap:plus)) *> (syn:pos:inv:minus).

(wh_ph,

head_dtr:syn:pos:(main:plus,
                  subj_gap:minus)) *> (syn:pos:inv:plus).

(hd_spr_ph,

syn:pos:v) *> (syn:pos:inv:minus).

(hd_comp_ph,

syn:pos:v) *> (syn:pos:inv:minus).