Constituency Tests
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This document discusses evidence for phrases from native speaker intuitions. It provides 3 key pieces of evidence: 1. Native speakers have intuitions about the existence of words, phrases, and syntactic categories like word-level and phrasal categories. Phrases are not all the same kind. 2. The substitution test shows that pronouns can substitute for phrases that appear in different positions in a sentence, indicating they form constituents. 3. The movement test involves moving constituents to the front of the sentence. For example, "Those fried green tomatoes, the chef cooked" is grammatical but "*Tomatoe, the chef cooked" is not, showing "those fried green tomatoes" forms a constituent.
![Substitution Test Substitution and Ambiguity
Or the pronoun can replace the smaller
The pronoun can replace the larger constituent constituent.
Leonardo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars.
Leonardo spotted a mermaid with hi bi
L d tt d id ith his binoculars.
l
Leonardo spotted her with his binoculars (i.e. a
Leo spotted her (i.e. a mermaid with his binoculars) mermaid)
Leo spotted [NP a mermaid] [PP with [NP his
Leo spotted [NP a mermaid [PP with [NP his binoculars]]] binoculars]]
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Substitution Test Substitution Test
a. speaker A: Have you ever been [PP to Paris]? Verb Phrases (VP) can be replaced by
speaker B: No, I have never been there. proverbs ‘does’/’does so’
*No, I have never been there Paris?
b. speaker A: I have seen John being [AP rude
• Sally fell and Mary fell too
to strangers]. – Sally fell and Mary did too
speaker B: I’ve never seen him being so.
*I’ve never seen him being so strangers.
• Bill ate pizza and Bob ate pizza too
• Generalization: Any adequate description of the – Bill ate pizza and Bob did too
distribution of pro-forms has to make reference to
constituents and categories.
15 16
• If the VP has an object, the proverb replaces the Susan likes anchovies too.
entire VP (verb and object)
Bill likes anchovies and Susan likes anchovies too
• What’s the structure of the VP?
Bill likes anchovies and Susan does too
• Is likes a VP?
But not: • Is likes anchovies a VP?
*Bill likes anchovies and Susan does anchovies
too
WHY NOT?
17 18
3](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/constituencytests-100521161700-phpapp02/85/Constituency-Tests-3-320.jpg)
![Constituents Try Movement test
[The mouse] ran [up the drainpipe]
NP Verb PP (Preposition + NP)
– Leonardo looked up the beach.
__________________________________________
– Leonardo looked up the number.
Leonardo [ran up] [the bill]
Which groups of words can be fronted in each
NP Verb + Particle NP
example? And why?
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Movement test Further Evidence: Word Order
– Leonardo looked up the beach. – Leonardo ran up the bill
– Leonardo ran the bill up
Up the beach, Leonardo looked.
– Th mouse ran up th d i i
The the drainpipe
But not:
not
– Leonardo looked up the number But not:
*Up the number, Leonardo looked – *The mouse ran the drainpipe up
27 28
Coordination Test Coordination Test
Another test of constituency is the coordination test:
Speaker A: What did the mouse do?
• only constituents of the same type can be coordinated Speaker B: It ran up the drainpipe and up the roof
But not:
cute cats and funny dogs
Speaker A: What did Leonardo do?
slowly but surely Speaker B: *He ran up the bill and up a huge credit
card debt
go to the movies or stay at home
29 30
5](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/constituencytests-100521161700-phpapp02/85/Constituency-Tests-5-320.jpg)
Constituency Tests
- 1. Native-speaker Intuitions • We have intuitions about the existence of: – words – phrases Constituency – syntactic categories: • word-level (lexical) categories (words are not all of Evidence for Phrases the same kind) • phrasal categories (phrases are not all of the same kind) 1 2 Phrasal categories Phrases and word-level categories My brother will meet a friend from college at the My brother will meet a friend from college station. at the station. • my brother: NP *meet a * t • from college: PP • a friend from college: NP *college at the • at the station: PP • meet a friend from college at the station: VP 3 4 Constituency Phrases • Words that go together form a constituent What is a phrase? (or a phrase). You can define it semantically as having the same role as some of the individual words (heads) that it contains: e.g. N Noun: person, place, or thing: l thi man, Noun a man, the man with the green hat, Noun Phrase (NP) kissed, Verb kissed a man in the green hat, Verb Phrase (VP) 5 6 1
- 2. Constituent Structure Phrasal categories: morphological evidence A sentence is built from constituents (i.e., different kinds of phrases). Each kind of phrase has a head plus other (1) a. I think I stole the guy’s hat. b.*I think I stole the guy’s who I met in constituents. Senegal hat. c. I think I stole the guy who I met in thi k t l th h ti Senegal’s hat. NP - Noun Phrase VP - Verb Phrase (2) a. This crown is the king’s. PP - Prepositional Phrase b.*This crown is the king’s of England. AP - Adjective Phrase c. This crown is the king of England’s. 7 8 Phrasal categories: Try the Substitution Test morphological evidence – The old woman met a lawyer. • Generalization: The possessive/genitive – Bill married the old woman. woman. inflection ’s can attach only to NPs. – He threw the Frisbee to the old woman. woman. (Hence, (Hence any adequate description of – Bill thought the old woman was sick sick. possessives must make reference to phrases (i.e., constituency). A pronoun can substitute for phrases that appear in different positions in a sentence. 9 10 Try the Substitution Test Ambiguity – She met a lawyer. – Bill married her. her. Leonardo spotted a mermaid with his – He threw the Frisbee to her. her. binoculars. – Bill thought she was sick sick. What does this sentence mean? Paraphrase it! A pronoun can substitute for phrases that appear in different positions in a sentence. 11 12 2
- 3. Substitution Test Substitution and Ambiguity Or the pronoun can replace the smaller The pronoun can replace the larger constituent constituent. Leonardo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars. Leonardo spotted a mermaid with hi bi L d tt d id ith his binoculars. l Leonardo spotted her with his binoculars (i.e. a Leo spotted her (i.e. a mermaid with his binoculars) mermaid) Leo spotted [NP a mermaid] [PP with [NP his Leo spotted [NP a mermaid [PP with [NP his binoculars]]] binoculars]] 13 14 Substitution Test Substitution Test a. speaker A: Have you ever been [PP to Paris]? Verb Phrases (VP) can be replaced by speaker B: No, I have never been there. proverbs ‘does’/’does so’ *No, I have never been there Paris? b. speaker A: I have seen John being [AP rude • Sally fell and Mary fell too to strangers]. – Sally fell and Mary did too speaker B: I’ve never seen him being so. *I’ve never seen him being so strangers. • Bill ate pizza and Bob ate pizza too • Generalization: Any adequate description of the – Bill ate pizza and Bob did too distribution of pro-forms has to make reference to constituents and categories. 15 16 • If the VP has an object, the proverb replaces the Susan likes anchovies too. entire VP (verb and object) Bill likes anchovies and Susan likes anchovies too • What’s the structure of the VP? Bill likes anchovies and Susan does too • Is likes a VP? But not: • Is likes anchovies a VP? *Bill likes anchovies and Susan does anchovies too WHY NOT? 17 18 3
- 4. Movement Test Movement Test Another test of constituency is the The chef cooked those fried green tomatoes Those fried green tomatoes, the chef cooked Movement test: M tt t *Tomatoes, th chef cooked th *T t the h f k d those f i d green fried A constituent can be moved to the *Those, the chef cooked fried green tomatoes front of a sentence. An entire phrase must be moved, not just its parts. 19 20 Movement Test Movement Test Leo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars. Leo spotted a mermaid with his binoculars. The mermaid, Leo spotted with his binoculars. The mermaid with his binoculars, Leo spotted. 21 22 Movement test By analogy, ran up the drainpipe and ran The Movement test can show whether up the bill should behave the same way. something is or is not a phrase. Why are they different? – The mouse ran up the drainpipe. drainpipe – Up the drainpipe, the mouse ran. – Leonardo ran up the bill But: – *Up the bill, Leonardo ran. 23 24 4
- 5. Constituents Try Movement test [The mouse] ran [up the drainpipe] NP Verb PP (Preposition + NP) – Leonardo looked up the beach. __________________________________________ – Leonardo looked up the number. Leonardo [ran up] [the bill] Which groups of words can be fronted in each NP Verb + Particle NP example? And why? 25 26 Movement test Further Evidence: Word Order – Leonardo looked up the beach. – Leonardo ran up the bill – Leonardo ran the bill up Up the beach, Leonardo looked. – Th mouse ran up th d i i The the drainpipe But not: not – Leonardo looked up the number But not: *Up the number, Leonardo looked – *The mouse ran the drainpipe up 27 28 Coordination Test Coordination Test Another test of constituency is the coordination test: Speaker A: What did the mouse do? • only constituents of the same type can be coordinated Speaker B: It ran up the drainpipe and up the roof But not: cute cats and funny dogs Speaker A: What did Leonardo do? slowly but surely Speaker B: *He ran up the bill and up a huge credit card debt go to the movies or stay at home 29 30 5
- 6. More Fragments Sentence Fragment Test Only constituents can be used as sentence fragments, • What does Bill like to do? that is, as free-standing answers to questions. • Give Mary books. • *Give Mary Speaker A: Who is Leonardo talking to? Speaker B: To my father. • What does Bill like to eat? • The breaded shrimp. But not: • *The breaded Speaker A: Who is Leonardo talking to? • Who came yesterday? Speaker B: *To my. • The King of France 31 • *The King of 32 Summary • Constituency Tests – Substitution – Movement – Coordination – Fragments • Constituency explains: onstituency – Ambiguity – Possessive Morphology – Intuitions about natural breaks in sentences (i.e., what words go together) – Word order facts 33 6