Contents

Note to the instructor xxvi

Note to the student xxvii

Acknowledgements xxix

Abbreviations used in examples xxx

Tables and figures xxxi

1 What is syntax? 1

�¹����x 1

1.1 Some concepts and misconceptions 2

1.1.1 What is the study of syntax about? 2

1.1.2 Language change 9

1.2 Use of linguistic examples 13

1.2.1 Why not just use examples from English? 13

1.2.2 How to read linguistic examples 14

1.3 Why do languages have syntax? 20

1.3.1 Word order 21

1.3.2 Promotion and demotion processes 23

1.3.3 All languages have structure 25

Further reading 28

Exercises 29

Notes 34

2 Words belong to different classes 35

�¹����x 35

2.1 Identifying word classes 37

2.1.1 How can we tell that words belong to di erent classes? 37

2.1.2 Starting to identify nouns, adjectives and verbs 38

2.1.3 An illustration: How do speakers of a language identify

word classes? 41

2.2 Verbs 44

2.2.1 An introduction to verb classes 44

2.2.2 Verbs and their grammatical categories 47

xxii ����䷨�W�����İ棩

2.3 Nouns 51

2.3.1 Semantic roles for noun phrases 51

2.3.2 Syntactic roles for noun phrases 52

2.3.3 Nouns and their grammatical categories 56

2.3.4 Nouns, de niteness and determiners 59

2.4 Adjectives 61

2.4.1 Positions and functions of adjectives 61

2.4.2 Adjectives and intensi ers 63

2.4.3 Adjectives and their grammatical categories 63

2.4.4 Are adjectives essential? 64

2.5 Adverbs 67

2.5.1 Adverbs and adjectives 67

2.5.2 e adjunct function 68

2.6 Prepositions 69

2.6.1 Identifying prepositions in English 69

2.6.2 Postpositions 71

2.6.3 Grammatical categories for adpositions 71

2.7 Conclusion 72

Further reading 73

Exercises 73

3 Looking inside sentences 81

�¹����x 81

3.1 Finiteness and auxiliaries 82

3.1.1 Independent clauses 82

3.1.2 Finiteness 84

3.1.3 Main verbs and verbal auxiliaries 85

3.1.4 Ways to express the grammatical categories for verbs 88

3.1.5 Non- nite verbs 89

3.1.6 Co-ordination of clauses 93

3.1.7 Summary 93

3.2 Introduction to subordination 94

3.2.1 Complement clauses 94

3.2.2 Adjunct or adverbial clauses 98

3.2.3 Identifying subordinate clauses 98

3.2.4 Special properties of root clauses 100

3.2.5 Some cross-linguistic variation in subordination 103

3.2.6 Summary: Properties of subordinate clauses and root

clauses 104

3.3 Major cross-linguistic variations 105

3.3.1 e co-ordination strategy 105

3.3.2 Nominalization 106

Contents xxiii

3.3.3 Serial verbs 107

3.3.4 Summary 110

Further reading 111

Exercises 111

4 Heads and their dependents 120

�¹����x 120

4.1 Heads and their dependents 121

4.1.1 What is a head? 121

4.1.2 e in uence of heads on their dependents 123

4.1.3 Summary: e properties of heads 124

4.1.4 More about dependents: Adjuncts and complements 125

4.1.5 More about verb classes: Verbs and their complements 127

4.1.6 Other heads and their complements 130

4.1.7 Summary: e main properties of complements vs.

adjuncts 131

4.1.8 Is the noun phrase really a determiner phrase? 132

4.1.9 Phrases within phrases 133

4.2 Where does the head occur in a phrase? Head-initial and

head- nal languages 133

4.2.1 Head-initial languages 134

4.2.2 Head- nal languages 135

4.2.3 An exercise on head-initial and head- nal

constructions 136

4.3 Head-marking and dependent-marking languages 137

4.3.1 De nitions and illustrations: Syntactic relationships

between heads and dependents 137

4.3.2 Head adposition and its NP object 138

4.3.3 e clause: A head verb and the arguments of the verb 140

4.3.4 Head noun and dependent possessor NP 143

4.3.5 Head noun and dependent AP 144

4.3.6 An exercise on head-marking and dependent-marking 145

4.3.7 Some typological distinctions between languages 146

4.3.8 Summary 149

Further reading 149

Exercises 150

5 How do we identify constituents? 158

�¹����x 158

5.1 Discovering the structure of sentences 159

5.1.1 Evidence of structure in sentences 159

5.1.2 Some syntactic tests for constituent structure 161

xxiv ����䷨�W�����İ棩

5.1.3 Introduction to constituent structure trees 167

5.1.4 Summary 172

5.2 Relationships within the tree 172

5.3 Developing detailed tree diagrams and tests for constituent

structure 175

5.3.1 Verb classes and constituent structure tests 175

5.3.2 e co-ordination test for constituency 182

5.3.3 Do all languages have the same constituents? 184

5.3.4 An introduction to the bar notation 185

5.4 Summary 189

Further reading 189

Exercises 190

Note 195

6 Relationships within the clause 196

�¹����x 196

6.1 Indicating grammatical relations in the clause 197

6.2 Order of phrases within the clause 199

6.2.1 Basic and marked orders 199

6.2.2 Statistical patterns 200

6.3 Case systems 203

6.3.1 Ways of dividing core arguments 203

6.3.2 Nominative/accusative systems 205

6.3.3 Ergative/absolutive systems 206

6.3.4 Split systems I 208

6.3.5 Marked and unmarked forms 210

6.4 Agreement and cross-referencing 211

6.4.1 What does verb agreement involve? 211

6.4.2 Nominative/accusative agreement systems 212

6.4.3 Ergative/absolutive agreement systems 215

6.4.4 Split systems II 216

6.5 Grammatical relations 217

6.5.1 Investigating core grammatical relations 217

6.5.2 Subjects: Typical cross-linguistic properties 217

6.5.3 An examination of subjects in speci c languages 219

6.5.4 Objects 226

6.6 Free word order: A case study 228

6.7 Summary 231

Further reading 232

Exercises 233

Contents xxv

7 Processes that change grammatical relations 241

�¹����x 241

7.1 Passives and impersonals 242

7.1.1 e passive construction and transitive verbs 242

7.1.2 e impersonal construction 248

7.2 e antipassive 249

7.2.1 Basic facts 249

7.2.2 Primary grammatical relations and grammatical pivot 251

7.3 e applicative construction 257

7.4 e causative construction 261

7.5 Summary 266

Further reading 266

Exercises 266

Notes 276

8 Wh-constructions: Questions and relative clauses 277

�¹����x 277

8.1 Wh-questions 278

8.1.1 Languages with wh-movement 278

8.1.2 Languages with wh-in-situ wh-questions 282

8.1.3 Multiple wh-questions 284

8.2 Relative clauses 286

8.2.1 Relative clauses in English 286

8.2.2 Cross-linguistic variation in relative clauses 289

8.3 Focus movements and scrambling 295

8.4 Some conclusions 297

Further reading 298

Exercises 298

Note 308

9 Asking questions about syntax 309

�¹����x 309

9.1 Syntactic description: What questions to investigate 310

9.2 A case study: Grammatical sketch of Colloquial Welsh 313

9.3 Some questions concerning syntax 320

9.4 Last words: More syntax ahead 324

Sources of data used in examples 326

Glossary 329

References 334