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UNIT 2: SYNTACTIC CONSTITUENTHOOD
1. RULES OF SYNTAX
• Sentences are not just linear strings of words, in terms of speech , they are not just temporal
sequences of words, one word after another.
• Sentences have internal structure.
• Words form groups, and these groups of words can form larger groups.
• These groupings of words are called CONSTITUENTS.
Rules of syntax and children
Children are very sensitive to this from the earliest stages of acquisition. Children postulate possible
rules for their language that differ from those sentences adults produces.: they make mistakes. It can
be concluded that children develop a different system of rules.
These set of rules are sensitive to the structure of sentences, children are building sentences on the
idea that these do not exist one word after another, but rather that there is an internal structure.
- Example: yes/no sentences or ‘polar questions’:
• Is the girl tall? - The girl is tall
• Can the girl see who is holding the plate? - The girl can see the boy who is holding the plate
What kind of rule might a child come up with to derive the question from the declarative?
A possible rule to form a polar question could be that the first auxiliary word in the declarative
sentence will be moved to the beginning of the word.
‘You front it to the beggining of the sentence’: The boy that is holding the plate can see the girl.
*Is the boy who holding the plate can see the girl? - This is UNGRAMMATICAL
This is not a correct rule to form polar questions in English. The actual rule for forming this type of
questions would be the following:
The first auxiliary after a certain group of words is fronted to the beginning of a sentence.
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UNIT 2: SYNTACTIC CONSTITUENTHOOD
1. RULES OF SYNTAX
• Sentences are not just linear strings of words, in terms of speech , they are not just temporal
sequences of words, one word after another.
• Sentences have internal structure.
• Words form groups, and these groups of words can form larger groups.
• These groupings of words are called CONSTITUENTS.
Rules of syntax and children
Children are very sensitive to this from the earliest stages of acquisition. Children postulate possible
rules for their language that differ from those sentences adults produces.: they make mistakes. It can
be concluded that children develop a different system of rules.
These set of rules are sensitive to the structure of sentences, children are building sentences on the
idea that these do not exist one word after another, but rather that there is an internal structure.
- Example: yes/no sentences or ‘polar questions’:
• Is the girl tall? - The girl is tall
• Can the girl see who is holding the plate? - The girl can see the boy who is holding the plate
What kind of rule might a child come up with to derive the question from the declarative?
A possible rule to form a polar question could be that the first auxiliary word in the declarative
sentence will be moved to the beginning of the word.
‘You front it to the beggining of the sentence’: The boy that is holding the plate can see the girl.
*Is the boy who holding the plate can see the girl? - This is UNGRAMMATICAL
This is not a correct rule to form polar questions in English. The actual rule for forming this type of
questions would be the following:
The first auxiliary after a certain group of words is fronted to the beginning of a sentence.
Vista previa
del documento.
Mostrando 4 páginas de 7