Instructor: Imola-Ágnes Farkas

farkas_imola_agnes@yahoo.com
Office hours: Tuesday 9-10 a.m., M16

Introduction to Generative Grammar

Course 6: The structure of phrases: binary operations, binary trees,
structural relations, features of language binary trees

Outline1

Complex addition of multiple terms

Strategy: --split the complex operation into intermediate binary ones = 2 entries!
-- apply recursivity => the same operation over and over again
Result: generation of a binary tree in which recursive addition applies
only once to each term and intermediate result
4 => status is not the same
as 4 + 0; is no longer 4, is 4’

Words in the sentences 30 = The output

affect =>Final result
the same area of brain
as =>
14 => becomes another input
=> intermediate result/output
Output = 10

Input = 3 & 7 each number is

4’ is different from 4 computed only once
Binary trees: inherent properties

The binary-tree structure can also be described in terms of structural

relations: fundamental relations inherent in the structure (and not
language specific) such as: dominance, precedence, and c-command.

The structural relation that describes a binary tree vertically is

dominance. In terms of the genealogical metaphor used in GG,
dominance means motherhood. Genealogical tree/root => mother

1 You find in this outline the content of the slides that I project during the course,
which contain the main topics and also structures and diagrams which may be difficult
and time consuming for you to copy during my lecture. They are made available to you
before class to save time and to make note-taking easier, but not unnecessary!
The outline as such (without your notes covering the detailed explanations that I give
during the course) cannot constitute a sufficient source of information when preparing
for the exam. If you miss the class, it is strongly recommended that this outline be used
as a guide to the bibliography indicated at the end of this document.

Synthetic trees are binary! Page 1

Synthetic trees => all are feminine Numbers are different members of family!
 Node => can have 2 descendants; the branching node
=> numbers or words .
30 => has 2 descendants, and this descendants have their own descendants; and so one

=> 30 >18
Node >12
Great-grandmother =>
=> higher in the tree
Grandmother => => 30 >10
>2
Mother =>
I => 30 >3
Aunt
Daughter => ——— >7
Sisters
30 is the root! => dominates everything

sisters

There is only one direction!

Downward!

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Page 3
The structure of a sentence is not linear!

=> means that is more to the left than to the right!

No dominance!

Eliminate

we have to eliminate the nodes (dominance)

Exlcude

10,12,30 => are eliminated because they dominate 3!

3 => precedes the nodes in the right!

3 => is first!

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 Eliminate!

2nd branching node

1st branching node

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 A node does not c-command it’s mother

dominance = only one

way!

There is a mutual c-command between sisters

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 => mother

=> c-command his sister and the

descendants

eliminate

node that is in dominance relation with 2!

2 c-command 10 and
their descendants - 3 and 7 sisters

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 E.g. => Verb Phrase => Read the book
head => the entire phrase behaves like a verb
How are phrases being built?
Building phrases involves at least three tasks:
--combining diverse elements
--labeling the resulting combination
--imposing a linear order on the elements so combined

Combining elements: The Structure-dependency principle suggests that

phrases are not flat structures, but layered structures, which means that
constituents in a phrase are hierarchically grouped.

Phrases are generated by combining elements via Merge! , which is a

binary operation with a recursive property, which generates binary tree
structures. Operation Merge! is also asymmetrical, and this structural
asymmetry generates syntactic meaning.

recursive => the same (merge) operation over and over again!

Features of language binary-trees

A. Endocentricity: every head projects a phrase; all phrases have

Like the
heads; there is only one head per phrase.
Verb Phrase
Consequently, any phrase contains a head, which labels the phrase, and
a number of already fully projected phrases.
The head must be prominent in the phrase it projects: all the other
constituents merge with the head, directly or indirectly, (recursive
property of Merge!), not among each other.
determiner phrase

noun phrase
Head gives you the label! 4’

synthetic trees => always have a label attached to the result of the operation
synthetic trees => Merge! Read - book. => are not the same type
Merge is an asymmetrical operation => combining only 2 elements - one is superior to the other!

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 10 B. Binary branching: all the other constituents that merge with the
head must take turns in doing so, because Merge!, like any other
brain operation, is an inherently binary one. Therefore, all complex
operation split into intermediate binary ones, creating binary
branching structures. Merge is a two-place operation.
3 7
What merges first is the direct object!

-both merge with the head

-they can’t merge with the verb at the same time

-John is the subject at the left. -the subject is higher
-an apple precedes ate = right -the subject c-command direct object

C. Single motherhood: phrase constituents are not immediately

dominated by more than one constituent. In other words, a
constituent can merge directly only once.

Correct
Not correct

When two constituents merge they are

immediately dominated by the merger
result. Because operation Merge! is
sensitive to dominance, it also sensitive
to c-command.

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 D. Order of merger with the head is syntactically significant (encodes
syntactic meaning):
What merges first with the head is the complement/object argument
(sister of the head).
What merges last is the specifier/subject argument.

NP c-commands the DP => not the other way around!

REMARK: Merger vs. adjunction

Adjuncts (modifiers) do not merge with the head, they adjoin the phrase
projected by the head they modify. (dominance and c-command relations
are suspended).
Adjoin! and Merge! are different operations. For one, the adjoin operation
is opaque to the c-command relation, and the adjoined constituent is not
dominated by the resulting constituent, but only contained.

-a more extended
verb phrase Verb Phrase

adjunct (temporal modifier)

=> adjuncts are not a part of the semantic structure! T

ADJOIN! = is a different operation (attached to head)

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 E. Feature checking: What triggers operation Merge!? Merge! is the
only means of satisfying the syntactic needs/ valences of the head,
or, in other words, the semantic/ syntactic features of the head
need to be checked by other fully projected constituents with
matching features. In other words, a constituent can merge with
the head only if they have features that match.
A head generates the structure of the phrase the head projects because
of its syntactic valence (combinatorial needs) which consists of a set of
features, called uninterpretable [uF] features, which have to be cancelled
via feature-checking.

Feature checking: both an operation and

a constraint
that applies to operation Merge!

Interpretable features:
John [N]; apple [N]; eat [V] morphological
two types labels
of the entries!
Unintepretable features:
eat [uN]; [uN] combinatorial needs of verb
eat
becomes a noun
merge! with the nominal (uN)

F. Theta-role assignment, or the semantic

interpretation the lexical heads assign to the
constituents they merge with, is a property
of operation Merge! 2nd

The Theta-criterion: “Each argument is assigned

one and only one theta-role. Each theta-role is 1st
assigned to one and only one argument.”
1st
2nd

it’s satisfied/canceled
->features are assigned theta-roles
->after merge, John =>agent!

=> merge operation => need of the verb to combine with the nominal it’s satisfied = (uN)

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 Practice: Using the Minimalist model of phrase structure, represent the
structure of the verb phrase in the following sentence:

inside

1 head

= adjunct

Subject is superior!

= Direct object (merges first)

-> all of them merge with the head
-> not on the same time

4’

is superior 4

Chomsky it’s not a noun. can’t merge together!

It’s a phrase = there is a silent
determiner in the front (the Chomsky)

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Bibliography:

Hornstein, Norbert, Jairo Nunes, and Kleanthes K. Grohmann (2006).

Understanding Minimalism. Cambridge University Press, pp. 174-217.

Haegeman, Liliane (1991). Introduction to Government and Binding

Theory. Basil Blackwell, pp. 73-77; 113-126.

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