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Detecting Complements and Adjuncts
Rajat Kumar MohantyCenter for Indian Language Technology
IIT Bombay
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Outline
X-bar Theory Revisited Complement and Adjuncts within an NP Detecting Complements and Adjuncts
Structural Ambiguity Phrase Structure Rules for Noun Phrases Reordering of Adjuncts Co-ordination Extraposition Preposing Co-occurrence Restrictions
Generalization Exercises
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
X-bar Theory
It tells us how words are combined to make phrases and sentences.
It captures the commonality between different types of phrases, which PS-rules cannot.
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
X-bar Projection
XP
X `
X ZP
YP
(Maximal projection)
(Intermediate projection)
(Minimal projection)
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
X-bar Projection
XP
X `
X ZP
YP
(X-phrase)
(Head)
(Complement)
(Specifier)
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
X-bar Projection
XP
X `
X
ZP
YP
(Complement)
(Specifier)
X `
ZP(Head)
(Adjunct)
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
X-bar Projection
NP
N `
PPcomplement
NPspecifier
John’s Nhead
solution
to the problem
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
X-bar Projection
NP
N `
of the cricket match
theN `
discussion
in the cabinet meeting
Detspecifier
NheadPPcomplement
PPadjunct
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Complement and Adjuncts within an NP
NP
N `
Nhead
PPadjunct
Detspecifier
of NLP
aN `
PPcomplement
student
with long hair
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Structural Ambiguity in an NP
A student [of high moral principles] Is there any ambiguity in this NP ?
a person who studies high moral principles a student who has high moral principles
This ambiguity can be characterized in structural terms
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
a person who studies high moral principles
NP
N `
of high moral principles
a
student
Detspecifier
NheadPPcomplement
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
a student who has high moral principles
NP
N `
of moral principles
aN `
student
Detspecifier
Nhead
PPadjunct
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Examples
1. Arguments [with John] are often pointless. (???)
2. Arguments [with few premises] are often pointless. (???)
3. Arguments [with John] [with few premises] are often pointless.
4. *Arguments [with few premises] [with John] are often pointless.
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Phrase Structure Rules for Noun Phrases The complement must precede an adjunct. Rules
NP N’ (PP) adjunct rule N’ N (PP) complement rule
Examples1. a student [of Physics] [with long hair]
2. * a student [with long hair] [of Physics]
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Phrase Structure Rules for Noun Phrases Adjunct rules are recursive. A complement rule is not recursive, i.e., it
can apply only once.
Examples1. a student [with long hair] [with short arms]
2. * a student [of Physics] [of Chemistry]
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Reordering of Adjuncts
Unlike complements which have to precede adjuncts, adjuncts can be freely reordered with respect to each other.
1. a student [with long hair] [with short arms]
2. a student [with short arms] [with long hair]
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Co-ordination
Complements can be co-ordinated with other complements.
a student [of linguistics] and [of Computer Science]
Adjuncts can be co-ordinated with other adjuncts. a student [with short arms] and [with long hair]
But adjunct PPs and complements PPs cannot be co-ordinated.
* a student [of Physics] and [with short arms] * a student [with short arms] and [of Physics]
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Extraposition
Adjuncts are less tightly bound to the head noun than complements.
It is possible to extrapose adjuncts PPs but not possible to extrapose complement PPs.
Examples1. A student [with long hair] came to see me yesterday.2. ? A student came to see me yesterday [with long
hair].3. * A student came to see me yesterday [of Physics].
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Preposing
Complements and Adjuncts behave differently with respect to preposing.
Examples1. [What branch of linguistics] is John a student of?2. * [What kind of hair] is John a student with?
Note that Complements and Adjuncts go in opposite directions with respect to Extraposition and Preposing.
Heads are more closely related to their complements than to their adjuncts.
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Co-occurrence Restrictions
Heads place significant restrictions (i.e. , subcategorisation) on what can appear as their complement.
1. a student of NLP2. * a boy of NLP3. * a girl of NLP4. * a teenager of NLP
No similar restrictions are imposed on adjuncts. a student with long hair a boy with long hair a girl with long hair a teenager with long hair
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Generalization
Heads are more closely related to their complements than to their adjuncts.
Subcategorisation restrictions hold only between a head and its complement, not between a head and its adjuncts.
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Exercise-I
Identify the complements and adjuncts in the following NPs:
1. your reply [to my letter]2. the attack [on Starr]3. the loss [of the ship]4. John’s disgust [at Mary’s behavior]5. his disillusionment [with life]6. the book [on the table]7. the advertisement [on the television]8. the fight [after the match]9. his resignation [because of the scandal]10. a cup [with a broken handle]
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Exercise-II
Provide trees for the bracketed NPs in the following sentences: I met [a specialist in fibreoptics from Japan]. [The journey from Mumbai to Delhi on the
Christmas Day] was tiring. [The discussion of the riots in the bar] was full and
frank. [The solution to the problem given by John] is
better than the solution given by Mary. [The solution to last week’s quiz on page 20] is a
better one.
Monday, July 11, 2005 CFILT
Sources and Suggested Readings Introduction to Government and Binding
Theory, 2nd edn., Liliane Haegeman, Blackwell, 1994.
Syntactic Structures Revisited, Howard Lasnik, MIT Press, 2000.
Bhatt, R. 2003. Introduction to Syntax. Principles and Parameters, Peter Culicover,
Oxford, 1997.