1367260110.5528Understanding Syntax

Contentsix4.2 Where does the head occur in a phrase? Head-initial and head-final languages 1204.2.1 Head-initial languages 1204.2.2 Head-final languages 1214.2.3 An exercise on head-initial and head-final constructions 1224.3 Head-marking and dependent-marking languages 1234.3.1 Definitions and illustrations: Syntactic relationships betweenheads and dependents 1234.3.2 Head preposition/postposition and its NP object 1244.3.3 The clause: A head verb and the arguments of the verb 1264.3.4 Head noun and dependent possessor NP 1284.3.5 Head noun and dependent AP 1294.3.6 An exercise on head-marking and dependent-marking 1304.3.7 Some typological distinctions between languages 1324.3.8 Summary 134Further reading 134Exercises 1355 How do we identify constituents? 1415.1 Discovering the structure of sentences 1415.1.1 Evidence of structure in sentences 1415.1.2 Some syntactic tests for constituent structure 1435.1.3 Introduction to constituent structure trees 1485.1.4 Summary 1535.2 Relationships within the tree 1535.3 Developing detailed tree diagrams and tests for constituent structure 1565.3.1 Verb classes and constituent structure tests 1575.3.2 The co-ordination test for constituency 1635.3.3 Do all languages have the same constituents? 1655.4 Summary 166Further reading 167Exercises 1676 Relationships within the clause 1726.1 Indicating grammatical relations in the clause 1726.2 Order of phrases within the clause 1736.2.1 Basic and marked orders 1736.2.2 Statistical patterns 1756.3 Case systems 1776.3.1 Ways of dividing core arguments 1776.3.2 Nominative/accusative systems 1796.3.3 Ergative/absolutive systems 1806.3.4 Split systems I 1826.3.5 Marked and unmarked forms 1846.4 Agreement and cross-referencing 1846.4.1 What does verb agreement involve? 1846.4.2 Nominative/accusative agreement systems 1856.4.3 Ergative/absolutive agreement systems 188