Chapter 4
Structural relations
Objectives:
to identify;
The parts of the tree (branch, node, label).
Domination (exhaustive, immediate).
Precedence (sister precedence, precedence).
C-command (symmetric, asymmetric, government).
Grammatical relations.
Revision:
Constituents are groups of words that function as single
units.
These rules generate trees, which in turn represent
constituency.
a collection of labels and lines; within this collection of
labels there is an organization.
In particular, various parts of
the tree are organized hierarchically with respect to one
another.
Revision:
PS Rules:
1- Noun Phrase (NP): NP→ (Det) (adjp+) N (PP+) (CP)
2- Adjective Phrases (AdjP): AdjP → (AdvP) AdjP
3- AdvP → (AdvP) Adv
4- Prepositional Phrases (PPs): PP → P (NP)
5- Verb Phrases (VP): VP → (AdvP +) V (NP) ({NP/CP}) (AdvP+) (PP+)
(AdvP+)
6- TP → {NP/CP} (T) VP
7- CP (complementizer phrase): CP → (C) TP
8- Coordination (conjunction): XP → XP conj XP
1- The Parts of the Tree:
Branch: a line that connects two parts of the tree.
Node: The end of the branch.
Label: the name given to a node.
Root node: a node with no line on top of it (TP). It dominates
everything but dominated by nothing.
Terminal node: a node that dominates nothing. It has no
branches underneath it.
Non-terminal node: a node that dominates something. It has
a branch underneath it.
2- Domination:
It describes the relations between two nodes.
Domination: node N dominates node E if and only if N is higher up in the tree
than E and you can trance a line from N to E going only downwards.
Exhaustive domination: Node N exhaustively dominates a set of terminal
nodes (D, E, F) if it dominates all the members of the set. It holds between a set
of nodes and their mother only if the entire set is dominated by that mother.
M exhaustively dominates (N, O). N exhaustively dominates (D, E, F), and O
exhaustively dominates (H, I, J).
More on domination..
Constituent of: E is a constituent of N if and only if N
dominates E.
Immediate domination: node N immediately dominates
node E if there is no intervening node C that is
dominated by N. e.g. M immediately dominates (N, O).
Mother: N is a mother of F if N immediately dominates F.
Daughter: H is a daughter of O if H is immediately
dominated by O.
Sister: two nodes that share the same mother.
3- Precedence
✓This rule not only says that M dominates A and B and is
composed of A and B.
✓It also says that A must precede B in linear order.
✓A must be said before B, because it appears to the left
of B in the rule.
✓The relation of “what is said first” is called precedence.
✓ sister precedence: node A sister precedes node B if and only if
both are immediately dominated by the same node M and A appears
to the left of B.
4- C-command:
4- C-command:
C-command: A node c-commands its sisters and all the
daughters (granddaughters, great-granddaughters) of its
sisters.
Node A c-commands node B if every node dominating A
also dominates B, and neither A nor B dominates the other.
Symmetric c-command: A symmetrically c-commands B if
A c-commands B and B c-commands A.
Asymmetric c-command: A asymmetrically c-commands B
if A c-commands B but B does not c-command A.
Government
Government: Node A governs node B if A c-commands B
and there is no node G such that G is c-commanded by
A and G asymmetrically c-commands B.
• Phrase-government: If A is a phrase, then G must also be a phrase.
• Head-government: If A is a head (word), G must also be a head.
5-Grammatical relations
Subject: NP or CP daughter of TP
The puppy chased the kitten. (NP)
[The fact that Noor is early] is strange. (CP)
Object:
My aunt kissed her son. (Direct Object)
The teacher examined the students. (Direct Object)
Nehal cut the steak with a knife. (Object of preposition)
We drove all the way to Jeddah. (Object of preposition)
5-Grammatical relations
These are not structural relations (hierarchal, linear), but they are defined
structurally based on trees not based on semantics.
Subject: NP/CP daughter of TP that appears before the verb or auxiliary.
The puppy licked the kitten’s face/ That bill visited his family bothered
John
Direct object:
a) NP /CP daughter of VP.
b) NP/CP daughter of VP that is preceded by NP daughter of VP.
Susan kissed the clown’s nose/ John said that the lawn was overgrown
John told me that he is leaving
More on relations..
Object of a preposition: NP daughter of PP
John cut the steak with a knife
Indirect object: in ditransitive verbs. It is PP daughter of VP
immediately preceded by NP
In case NP NP combination, the first NP daughter of VP is the
indirect object
Les gave peanuts to Paula / Les gave Paula peanuts
Oblique: PP that is not part of the argument of the verb.
Les ate peanuts with a spoon
To sum up…
The parts of the tree (branch, node, label).
Domination (exhaustive, immediate).
Precedence (sister precedence, precedence).
C-command (symmetric, asymmetric, government).
Grammatical relations (subject/ object/ indirect object/ object of P/ Oblique).