Introduction to Linguistics - Assignment 7
James Madison University
Read the handout containing short descriptions of alternative theories of syntax (available as two files on Blackboard, if you didn't get one in class.)
Then, choose one description and characterize a way that it differs from the theory discussed in our textbook.
Does it have any similarities as well?
If possible, find a naturally-occurring example, written or spoken, of a structurally ambiguous
sentence. (These come up all the time, even in The Breeze . :) ) Make up your own example only if you really find
yourself unable to find a naturally-occurring one. Now answer the following questions about your sentence:
What are the multiple possible interpretations of this sentence?
What syntactic constituent is the source of the ambiguity?
Was it possible, in context, to choose one meaning over the other(s)? If so, why?
Recursion challenge! (Give it a shot; if you get a reasonable answer, a valueless prize is a definite possibility :) )
The giants who live at the top of the beanstalk have a language of their own. It is a simple language with just the lexical categories "fee," "fi," "fo," and "fum." Here are its other structural characteristics:
A sentence must always end with a single "fum."
There is never more than one "fum," and "fum" is not grammatical anywhere else in a sentence.
Sometimes a sentence consists of nothing but that one "fum."
There is no limit on how many times a "fee," a "fi," or a "fo" may occur in a sentence.
Every "fee" must come before everything else in the sentence.
Every "fi" must come after the last "fee" but before any "fo"s or "fum".
Can you write a set of phrase structure rules that will produce all the possible grammatical sentences structures in the giants'
language without producing any ungrammatical sentence structures in this language? Feel free to posit any phrasal categories in this
language that will help you find rules that generate the correct results. Remember that recursion is a very useful tool...
