Граматика / English Syntax

116	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax
(42)
	PP
Spec		P0
	AdvP			P0
		P		NP
quite	unhesitatingly	in		agreement
(43)
	AdvP
Spec		Adv0
	AdvP			Adv0
		Adv		PP
	clearly	faster		than me

In all of these cases, just as in (27), the Adjunct is left-adjoined to a bar-level category. Notice that Adjuncts are often Adverb Phrases, but can be of any category.

We can now make a generalisation and say that Adjuncts are always sisters of bar-level categories in phrases. They are adjoined either to the right or to the left of single bar categories and have a modifying function. Complements, as we have seen, are always sisters of Heads.

There are a number of important points to bear in mind about Adjuncts. First, they can be stacked. In other words, several of them can appear in any one phrase. Here are two examples of phrases containing multiple pre-Head Adjuncts:

(44)The defendants denied the charge: they claim that they did [VP not unthinkingly deliberately destroy the garden]

(45)[NP a silly, preposterous analysis of the sentence]

In (46) and (47) we have phrases that contain both a pre-Head and a postHead Adjunct:

(46)[AP so devotedly fond of co ee after dinner]

(47)[PP quite unhesitatingly in agreement with each other]

The structure of such phrases is simple: all we need to do is add more single bar levels. Below I give the trees for the bracketed portions of (44) and (46):

		Adjuncts		117
(48)	VP
Spec		V0
	AdvP		V0
		AdvP		V0
			V		NP
not	unthinkingly	deliberately	destroy	the garden
(49)	AP
Spec		A0
			A0
	AdvP	A0		PP
		A	PP
so	terribly	fond	of co ee	after dinner

Exercise

Draw the trees for (45) and (47). You may use clothes-hangers for the PPs.

Your answers should look like this:
(50)
	NP
Spec		N0
	AP		N0
		AP			N0
			N		PP
a	silly	preposterous	analysis		of the sentence

118	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax
(51)
	PP
Spec		P0
		P0
	AdvP	P0	PP

PNP

quite unhesitatingly

in

agreement

with each other

The property of being stackable di erentiates Adjuncts on the one hand from Complements and Specifiers on the other: while phrases can in principle contain an unlimited number of Adjuncts (though they can become stylistically clumsy), lexical Heads, e.g. verbs, are restricted in the number of Complements they can take (rarely more than three), while Specifiers are generally not recursive (cf. *The my dog).

A second point to observe about Adjuncts, already mentioned in connection with Verb Phrases, is that the bond between them and their associated Heads is less close than that between the Head and its Complements.

Table 7.3 Typical Adjuncts for the Major Phrase Types NP, VP, AP and PP

Phrase	Head	Adjunct	Examples
NP	N	AP	The warm summer
		NP	The woman busdriver
		PP	The tiles on the floor
		clause	My youngest sister, who lives in Italy
			The information that you supplied
VP	V	AdvPs	He quickly absconded
			She read the prospectus eagerly
		PP	We came here in the summer
		Adjunct clauses	She phoned because she likes you
AP	A	PP	He was abusive to the extreme
		AdvP	We were unconsolably disappointed
PP	P	AdvP	I was totally over the moon
			She was in doubt entirely
		PP	They designed the museum in tandem with an
			Italian architect

Cross-Categorial Generalisations	119

This fact is reflected in tree diagrams: as we have seen, Complements are sisters of their Heads, while Adjuncts are sisters of the single bar level above the Head. We can demonstrate the closer bond between Heads and their Complements by reversing the order of Complements and post-Head Adjuncts, as has been done below:

(52)* . . . they did [VP not destroy deliberately the garden]

(53)*[NP an analysis with tree diagrams of the sentence]

(54)*[AP so fond after dinner of co ee]

(55)*[PP quite with each other in agreement]

(56)??[AdvP much faster by far than me]

The results of reversing the order of Complements and Adjuncts are clearly ungrammatical in most of these cases, and this is because Complements must be adjacent to their Heads.

To end this section look at Table 7.3 which shows typical Adjuncts for the di erent phrase types.

Clausal Adjuncts will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.

7.3Cross-Categorial Generalisations

Let us now return to our schematic tree in (13), modified as in (57) below:

(57)	XP
(Specifier)	X0

X0

(Adjunct)

Head/X (Complement)

This tree embodies what has been called a cross-categorial generalisation which is part of X 0-syntax (read: X-bar syntax). X0-syntax is a theory of syntax which stipulates that all the major phrase types are structured in the same way, namely as in (57).

Notice that the labels Specifier, Adjunct, Head and Complement are functional notions, and that of these four only the Head is always obligatory. I have positioned the optional Adjunct to the right of the lower X0 in (57), but bear in mind that Adjuncts can also be left-hand sisters of X0 (see, for example, (40)–(43) in the preceding section). We have posited the existence of the single bar level in phrases largely on intuitive grounds, but we will obviously need to justify its existence on syntactic grounds as well. For

120	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

now, we will simply assume that this intermediate category exists, and in Chapter 11 we will present syntactic evidence for it.

The phrase structure that X0-syntax posits is a major improvement on socalled ‘flat’ structures, i.e. structures where all the elements are on the same level. To see this, consider the NP in (58):

(58)a silly analysis of the sentence with tree diagrams

From what has been said so far it will be clear that the words in this phrase bear di erent relationships to each other. The most important element is the Head analysis, and there are various additional words that relate in di erent ways to this Head: some have a modifying function (e.g. silly, with tree diagrams), others have a complementing function (e.g. of the sentence). In other words, (58) is structured. Moreover, it is structured hierarchically, as becomes clear when we compare two di erent representations of (58):

(59)		NP
Det AP		N	PP	PP
a	silly	analysis	of the sentence	with tree diagrams
(60)
	NP
Spec		N0
Det	AP		N0
		N0		PP
		N	PP
a	silly	analysis	of the sentence	with tree diagrams

(59) is a flat structure, where all the elements are positioned at the same level, whereas (60) is a hierarchical structure which conforms to X0-syntax. Looking at (58) from left to right, we first come across the determiner a. This element has the function of adding indefiniteness to the rest of the phrase. In (60) this is brought out by making it the sister of the N0-constituent silly analysis of the sentence with tree diagrams. In (59) all we have is a linear sequence of words which all seem to have the same relationship to each

Subcategorisation	121

other. (Recall that Spec is the functional label associated with the word class of determiner. Exceptionally it is the only functional label that appears in trees, as we have seen.) Turning now to the words following the determiner, we have already seen that the relationship between the Head analysis and the Complement of the sentence is closer than that between the Head and the Adjuncts silly and with tree diagrams. The first tree does not bear out this fact, but the second one does: here the Complement is analysed as a sister of the Head, whereas the Adjunct is analysed as sister of the N0 that dominates the Head. What is clear, then, is that representations in the X0-format enable us to graphically represent the hierarchical relationships that hold between the various elements of phrases. What’s more, these kinds of relationships are identical for all the phrase types, and this is why we can use ‘XP’, as in (57) above, when we talk about syntactic structure in general.

7.4Subcategorisation

In this section we will take a closer look at the tight bond that exists between Heads and their Complements. In Section 7.1 we saw that this bond is so strong that a Complement must always be adjacent to its Head, and that an Adjunct may not intervene. Another way of claiming that there is a strong connection between Heads and Complements is to say that Heads subcategorise for (i.e. syntactically require the presence of ) their Complements. Di erent Heads subcategorise for di erent Complements and we use so-called subcategorisation frames to specify exactly which Complements a Head takes. Here’s the subcategorisation frame for the verb destroy:

destroy (verb) [–, NP]

This frame contains two parts: on the top line we have the element that is subcategorised, with a word class label. On the bottom line, inside square brackets, we have a dash, indicating the position of the subcategorised element, followed by a comma and the category whose presence is required by the subcategorised element. Destroy is a verb that takes only one Complement. A ditransitive verb like send in the sentence He sent her some details of the plan takes the following frame:

send (verb) [–, NP NP]

This frame indicates that send takes two Objects as its Complements: an Indirect Object (her) and a Direct Object (some details of the plan). However, send does not always require two Complements. For example, we can say the following: Martin didn’t come to the party, but he sent his sister, where

122	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

the verb takes only one Complement. We revise the subcategorisation frame for send as follows:

send (verb) [–, (NP) NP]

Here the first NP is placed inside brackets to indicate its optionality.

Of course, some Heads do not take Complements at all, and this will be indicated in the subcategorisation frame by the zero symbol ( ). The frame for blush looks like this:

blush (verb) [–, ]

For some verbs there is a choice of Complements. As an example, consider the sentences below which contain the verb believe:

(61)I believed the allegations.

(62)I believed that the allegations were true.

(63)I believed the allegations to be true.

The subcategorisation frame for believe is as follows:

believe (verb)
NP	)]
[–(that-clause
to-infinitive clause

The curly brackets indicate that a choice should be made from one of the items inside them.

Verbs are not the only word classes that can be subcategorised. Nouns, adjectives, prepositions and adverbs also occur in subcategorisation frames. However, as we have already seen, the extent to which these word classes take Complements varies enormously. Here are some examples:

fact (noun)

[–, (that-clause)]

e.g. She hates the fact that he is a genius.

appreciative (adjective) [–, of-NP]

e.g. She is appreciative of classical music.

behind (preposition) [–, NP]

e.g. The bike is behind the shed.

Subcategorisation	123

fortunately (adverb) [–, ( for-NP)]

e.g. Fortunately for me the train departed late.

Exercise

Produce subcategorisation frames for hit, put, idea and smile. You will need to think of sentences or phrases containing these lexical items. Alternatively, consult a dictionary which gives information about complementation patterns, e.g. the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.

Your answers should look like this:

hit (verb) [–, NP]

e.g. You should never hit animals.

put (verb) [–, NP PP]

e.g. He put the glasses on the table.

idea (noun)

[–, (that-clause)]

e.g. The idea that we will all go to heaven is absurd.

smile (verb) [–, ]

e.g. She smiled.

7.4.1Subcategorisation versus Argument/Thematic Structure

You will have noticed that the subcategorisation frames we introduced in the previous section are reminiscent of the frames we used to represent the argument/thematic structure of predicates. What exactly is the di erence between these two kinds of frames?

Let’s start with subcategorisation. What does this term actually mean? The point about subcategorisation is that by assigning an element to a particular

124	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

subcategorisation frame, we create a subcategory for the word class that this element belongs to. For example, by assigning a verb like destroy to the frame [–, NP], we create a subcategory for the word class of verbs, namely a subcategory that takes an NP Complement. This subcategory we have called the class of transitive verbs. Similarly, by assigning a verb like smile to the frame [–, ], we create a subcategory of intransitive verbs. It’s important to remember that subcategorisation concerns only the internal arguments, i.e. the Complements, of the element that is being subcategorised. The reason for this is that only internal arguments are capable of creating subcategories. You will have noticed that external arguments, i.e. Subjects, are conspicuously absent from subcategorisation frames. The reason for this is that if an element, e.g. a verb, takes a Subject expression, no subcategory of verbs is established for it. For example, the fact that the verb drive must have a Subject in any sentence in which it occurs does not create a special class of ‘Subject-taking verbs’. This is because all verbs take Subjects.

Unlike in subcategorisation frames, external arguments do appear in the frames that specify the argument/thematic structure of lexical items (cf. (22)–(26) of the previous chapter). In these frames all arguments are listed, together with the thematic roles that are assigned to them.

Key Concepts in this Chapter

Head Complement Specifier projections

lexical projection: X bar-level projection: X0 maximal projection: XP

adjunction

cross-categorial generalisations subcategorisation

Exercises

1.Explain how X-bar theory can account for the parallel interpretation of the italicised phrases below:

(i)(He) appreciates good wine.

(ii)(He is) appreciative of good wine.

(iii)(His) appreciation of good wine.

Exercises	125

2.The following sentence is ambiguous:

(i)John decided that he would move after Easter.

Explain the ambiguity, then draw the trees that correspond to the two meanings.

3.Draw the tree for the sentence Geri completely adores pickled vegetables. Then decide whether the statements below are true or false:

(i)the NP pickled vegetables is a sister of a lexical category

(ii)pickled is adjoined to the N vegetables

(iii)vegetables is an N0 and an N at the same time

(iv)adores pickled vegetables is a V0

4.We have seen that Adjuncts are optional in sentences, and that they are excluded from subcategorisation frames. How does the sentence below pose a problem for this claim?

(i)Jimmy treats his cat badly.

(cf. *Jimmy treats his cat. This sentence is bad with the meaning of treat kept constant.)

5.Consider the following exchange from a TV sitcom:

Alan	I am so happy!
Ben	Happy?
Alan	Yes, you remember happy?

On the basis of Alan’s last contribution to this mini-exchange we might want to say that the verb remember can subcategorise for an Adjective Phrase. Why would such a claim be dubious? If remember does not subcategorise for an AP, how do we explain the fact that happy can occur after this verb in the exchange above?

6.Here’s another exchange, from a James Bond movie: Marceau: You’d never kill me, you’d miss me. Bond shoots her dead and says:

Bond: I never miss.

Explain the joke, making reference to subcategorisation frames.