"The rat the cat the dog chased killed ate the malt."

We have been learning about phonetics and then phonology in the first three weeks. This week, in three chapters, Carnie examines language at a bigger context: syntax. Chapter 1 introduces the approach to study syntax and discusses the psychological progress of learning the language, distinguishing the difference between “learned” and "acquired". It also references to Noam Chomsky and his idea of how languages are instincts. Chapter 2 defines basic terms for examining the language: from differentiating “open class” from “closed class” to different ways of distribution. The parts of speech are also introduced in this chapter, covering in details to ensure we have the tools before getting into the real work. Chapter 3 starts to teach us how to use those tools in an attempt to construct a syntax tree. I think this chapter is especially helpful because I have been reading some of our previous reading assignments without having known what these terms mean. Although it is easier to understand, practicing drawing a syntax tree will take me much practice to master.

     I also have many questions after reading assignments. One of which is the categorization of words. I ask myself how the author would categorize words like “yes” or “darn” because they do not seem to fit in any categories. Another question I have takes a longer step away to look at poetry. Currently, I am reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost that was written in Modern English. However hard I try, I always seem to fail to fully comprehend the poetry while many other readers can still penetrate the meaning of the work. Additionally, on syntax level, the word order rules do not seem to apply perfectly. Another instance when some of the rules provided by Carnie are disobeyed is the lines of the character Yoda from Star Wars. The order of his English does not follow the conventional SVO order; yet we still manage to understand his message. We can still understand the similar semantic meanings but the syntax is not closely followed. These two instances prompt me to think more about how there exist exceptions that the book cannot fully capture.

     Finally, I am also fascinated by the idea of recursion Carnie discussed. Sentences like “The rat the cat the dog chased killed ate the malt” are confusing in meaning yet are still grammatically correct. This idea of language’s limitless capability now enables me to think outside of the box even more.