Modern Grammar - Assignment 15 James Madison University

INSTRUCTIONS: Do each of the questions below, including the one on constituency tests at the bottom. IMPORTANT --To do the first part of the assignment, download the LLAMA Syntax app that is available, along with instructions for automatic or manual installation, at THIS LOCATION. Note that when you start to use LLAMA Syntax, you'll need to start a new grammar file using the "File" menu. You can save that grammar if you might want to use it again later but you can also always start a new one again the next time. Help pages for using LLAMA Syntax are found HERE. [The assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.]

1. The main purpose of the first part of the assignment is to let you gain firsthand experience in considering the basic relationships between syntactic categories, syntactic rules, lexical items (words) and phrase structure trees, using LLAMA-syntax to check your answers. In the event that you have serious trouble with LLAMA-Syntax, you can make your best effort by hand.

   First, let's think about syntactic categories. Categories include all the lexical categories (word classes) we've already discussed and the phrasal categories that can be built from these lexical categories. Categories are the building blocks of sentence structure. The first step in writing the syntactic rules for a language is to determine what categories are needed.
   There is a category Editor on the upper left of the LLAMA Syntax window. You can enter categories by typing them in the small entry field at the bottom of the Categories box and then clicking on the Add button or hitting ENTER.

   So, let's try adding some categories. Click on the entry field, type S, and then click on Add. The category S should appear at the top of the list. (If you make a mistake, you can use the Delete button to remove it.) Now click to the right of the S, hit the backspace key, type NP, and click on Add again. Next, add each of the following in the same way: N, VP, V, det. What you have now accomplished is the creation of a small list of syntactic categories that may be used in describing phrase structure rules.
   

   Once you've determined what categories you need (and the ones you've entered are enough for the moment), it's time to start thinking about how they combine. Just to the right of the Categories Editor is a Rules Editor. You enter rules by typing a single category (the category of constituent that is being described in the rule) into the entry field to the left of the arrow, then typing a set of one or more categories (the categories of the constituents that combine to form that more complex constituent) into the entry field on the righthand side of the arrow, and finally, clicking on the Add button. LLAMA Syntax takes care of adding the arrow.
   Try adding the rule S -> NP VP. Begin by clicking on the entry field to the left of the arrow and typing S. Now click on the entry field to the right of the arrow and type NP VP. (Note the space in between NP and VP.) Finally, click on Add. The rule should appear at the top of the rule list. Next add each of the following rules in the same way:
   NP -> det N, VP -> V.
   (Reminder: there is a link to a LLAMA Syntax help page in the instructions for this assignment. :) )

   You now know have a few rules (perhaps simplified for now) that generate some English constructions. Of course, the exact set of rules you need depends on the actual syntactic construction you are analysing (such as a particular sentence), and that sentence or other construction is made of words (aka lexical items). So, your little grammar needs a lexicon. You can give LLAMA Syntax a lexicon using the LLAMA Lexicon Editor on the bottom left of the LLAMA Syntax window. You enter lexical items by typing a single word into the first entry field (on the left), then typing a category for this word into the second entry field (on the right), and finally, clicking on the Add button.
   Try adding the lexical entry for the noun "rules". Begin by clicking on the left entry field and typing rules. Now click on the right entry field and type N. Finally, click on Add. The lexical entry for the noun "rules" should appear at the top of the lexicon list. Next add each of the following lexical entries in the same way: the determiner (det) "the", the verb (V) "work". >

   Finally, it's time to see what you can do with this little grammar. Parsing is the process of seeing if a string of words is a grammatical construction (such as a sentence) in a grammar and of determining the tree structure that represents the syntactic details of this construction. You can test this with the LLAMA Syntax Parser on the right side of the LLAMA Syntax window. Unless you change it, the parser is set to try to parse a sentence (as you can see in the top left entry field in that box, where it shows that the parser will try to build a phrase structure tree that has "S" as its "top node". If you have entered everything correctly so far, you should now be able to parse the sentence "the rules work." Click on the entry field near the bottom of the Parser and type the rules work (no punctuation, no changes in upper or lower case). Now click on Parse or hit ENTER. If you've entered all the correct information, the phrase structure tree for the sentence you typed should appear in the parser window. If not, you'll get a message letting you know that your grammar can't handle what you're trying to parse, and you can go back and look for mistakes.
   

   CONGRATULATIONS, you've built your first (mini) English grammar! Notice that it is so limited, especially in the lexicon, that it can't parse a single other English sentence. Clearly there is a lot more to English syntax than what we've seen so far. Now, let's see if you can figure out how to add to this grammar...

   
   

   Turn in your answers for the following:

   1. Below is an image of a phrase structure tree for the sentence "the bear went over the mountain". What categories, rules, and lexical items need to be added to your grammar to parse this sentence and produce this tree?
      

      You'll know you have the right answer when you can reproduce this tree in the Parser.

   2. Next, look at the list of sentences below carefully and determine which two can be handled by the exact same combination of the exact same rules of the grammar you just used for "the bear went over the mountain" (if the appropriate lexical items are added to the lexicon). Produce a phrase structure tree for both those sentences. (Note that you can save and/or print trees, categories, and rules using the Llama Syntax "Output" menu.)
      1. Those fish are wearing large goggles.
      2. That duck waddled into the pond.
      3. The dish ran away with the spoon.
      4. The walrus submitted his resume to the turkeys.
      5. A penguin is in my bathtub.
      6. The geese worked out a plan.

   3. What one rule would you have to add to the grammar, beyond those you've already entered, to get the sentence "rules work" to parse? (Test it out by adding your rule and trying to parse this sentence.)

   
   

2. Next (and you can shut down LLAMA Syntax now!), list the four additional criteria that are described in Ch 6. (pp 208 -213) as possible "tests" that can help determine the correct constituents in the phrase structure of a sentence.