The Structure of Syntax

In the first chapter, Carnie explains why learning a foreign language in a formal classroom doesn’t do much in preparing someone for speaking in the real world. There are aspects of Language that are innate. He provides arguments for this idea, like the ability to understand a completely nonsensical sentence or recognize when sentences aren’t grammatically correct. Carnie, using the scientific method, begins with a hypothesis about generative grammar, the theory that grammar is a cognitive ability, and modifies it as he progresses through the book.

            

Chapter two delves into syntax and different parts of speech, specifically nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. There are general definition of each part of speech, but there can be exceptions. Carnie uses “assassination” in the following phrase: “The assassination of the president.” The word is typically a verb, but it was used as a noun. In summary, this shows the flaws of using semantic definitions to identify parts of speech; it depends on where the words are placed with certain affixes. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are labeled as N, V, ADJ, and ANV, respectively, each with their own derivational or inflectional suffixes and syntactic distribution. They are all open, meaning they readily allow new words. Prepositions (P), determiners (D), conjunctions (Conj), complementizers (C), tenses (T), and negations (Neg) are all closed class.  

           

The third chapter explores the idea of constituents, a group of words that functions together as a unit. We are taught how to develop theories of sentence structure using phrase structure rules (PSRs), displaying it hierarchically with either a tree or brackets. The PSRs are used to make generalizations about generative grammar. For example, noun phrases (NPs), in their simplest form, consist of a noun N. NP --> N,  or NP with a line connecting to N below it can be used to denote this. When a determiner is added, it changes to NP --> D N or NP with two lower branches for D and N. This same process can be used for VPs and other parts of speech. The rest of the chapter, Carnie explains how to make tree diagrams for entire sentences with the bottom-up or top-down method; he recommends beginners to use the former. Bottom-up begins by identifying the parts of speech. Check what modifies what, then link them together starting from the right. Be mindful of the PSRs and apply them until all of the words have been connected into a single constituent. Finally, check if the rules and what you've created all match. 

In high school, we never thought of diving this deep into syntax. Even so, Carnie explains it in a way that makes it seem fairly manageable. It's like a puzzle where each piece is a word and you have to see which pieces can fit together. Thanks to Carnie, I have more of an excuse as to why my Spanish oral ability is much worse than my writing!