X-bar Theory

语言学的最简树方案-概述说明以及解释
语言学中的“最简树方案”通常是指在生成语法理论框架中，乔姆斯基提出的短语结构规则（Phra se St ructure Rules）的简化形式，即“X-bar theory”或“X'-theory”这一理论尝试通过规范和简化句法结构的表示方式，构建一种更为经济、普适的句子生成机制在X- b ar theo ry中，任何短语（Phras e）都有一个中心词（H e ad），并可以扩展为三个层级的结构：X ', X P, an d X' '. 其中：
1. X' 层包含中心词和它的最小附加部分，被称为“X -ba r”，这部分可能包括像标点符号这样的功能元素以及一些必要的辅助成分例如：
(S') - > NP VP [.,]
（此例中，S'代表简单句，NP是名词短语，VP是动词短语，方括号内的"."代表句子结束时可能出现的标点符号）
2. X P 层则是X ' 的进一步扩展，可能包括修饰X'的形容词、副词等元素例如：
(NP) - > Det N [PP]
（此例中，NP是名词短语，Det 是冠词，N是中心名词，[ PP]表示可选的介词短语修饰成分）
3. X ' '层则允许更复杂的多层次嵌套结构这种最简树方案不
仅考虑了长短句结合的可能性，还能够体现语言内在的递归特性，使得无论是简单的短句还是复杂的长句，都可以通过统一
的规则进行分析和生成，同时，标点符号作为句法结构的一部分，也得到了合理的解释和安置。

语言学第四章要点(2011-10-11 21:15:48)说明：本章要点参考了多本教材，其中的X-bar theory, Universal Grammar, merger and move等部分仅供考研的同学参考。

其他同学不做要求。

第四章Syntax句法学1.Syntax定义is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language. Sentences are structured according to particular arrangement of words.2、Syntax as a system of rules. as a major component of grammar, syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences3、Sentence structureSubject all language have ways of referring to some entity, such as a person , a place, a thing, an idea, or an event, this referring expression is grammatically called subject. A subject may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.2.Type of sentence英语的句子中的三种基本类型是什么？Traditionally, three major types of sentences are distinguished. They are simple sentence, coordinate or compound sentence and complex sentence.A simple sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence. For example, ① John reads extensively. the sentences contains a single clause and can stand structurally independent.A coordinate sentence并列句 contains two clauses joined by a linking word called coordinat ing conjunction, such as “and”, “but”, “or”. The two clauses in a coordinate sentence are structurally equal parts of the sentence; neither is subordinate to the other. For example, ③ John is reading a linguistic book, and Mary is preparing for her history exam.A complex sentence contains two or more clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other. The two clauses in a complex sentence have unequal status, one subordinating the other. The incorporated, or subordinate, clause is normally called an embedded clause子句, and the clause into which it is embedded is called a matrix sentence主句. For example, ⑤ Mary told Jane [that John liked linguistics]. In the above examples, the clauses in the square brackets are embedded clauses. Theyare subordinate to the clauses outside the brackets which are called matrix clauses.A complex sentence的特征：Some conclusions can be drawn from the complex sentence.1、an embedded clause functions as a grammatical unit in its matrix clause.2.most embedded clauses require an introductory word called a subordinator, such as “that”,” if ”.3.an embedded clause may not function as a grammatically well-formed sentence if it stands independently as a simple sentence unless it form changes.3、linearly- and hierarchically-structured.(线形结构和层次结构Language is a highly structured system of communication. Sentences are not formed by randomly(随意)combining lexical items, but by following a set of syntactic rules that arrange linguistic elements in a particular order to make a string of words not only meaningful but also linearly- and hierarchically-structured.(线形结构和层次结构)Hierarchical structure: the sentence structure that groups words into structural constituents and shows the syntactic categories of each structural constituent, such as NP and VP.5、Syntactic categories:句法类型1.lexical categories词类 (four major lexical categories and six minor lexical categories)2. Phrasal categories 短语类(lexical items have certain combinational properties that allow them to combine with words of different categories to form phrase. NP VP PP AP)6、Grammatical relations(语法关系) The structural and logical relations of constituents are called grammatical relations. It concerns the way each noun phrase in the sentence relates to the verb. (who does what do whom). Structural vs. logical subject, object. (**)7、Combinational rules组合规则1、Phrase structural rules The combinational pattern in a linear formula may be called a phrase structural rule, or rewrite rule. It allows us to better understand how words and phrases form sentences, and so on.2、Syntactic movement and movement rules Syntactic movement occurs whena constituent in a sentence moves out of its original place to a new position, the sentence involving which cannot be described by phrase structure rules. It was governed by transformational rules, the operationof which may change the syntactic representation of a sentence (句法的表达方式).3、什么是X-标杆理论?X-bar theory is a general and highly abstract schema that collapses all phrasal structure rules into a single format: X″→ (Spec) X (Compl). In this format, Spec stands for specifier while Compl stands for complement. This theory is capable of reducing the redundancies of individual phrasal structure rules and may well capture certain basic properties shared by all phrasal categories, i.e. NP, VP, AP, PP, across the languages of the world.4、Syntactic movement and movement rulesSyntactic movement occurs when a constituent in a sentence moves out of its original place to a new position, the sentence involving which cannot be described by phrase structure rules. It was governed by transformational rules, the operation of which may change the syntactic representation of a sentence (句法的表达方式).1 NP-movement and WH-movementNP-movement occurs when, for example, a sentence changes from the active voice to the passive voice (postpose, prepose).WH-movement is obligatory in English. It changes a sentence from affirmative to interrogative.2 Other types of movementAUX-movement (auxiliary)3 D-structure and S-structureThe syntactic component of the grammar:Phrase Structure Rules + the Lexicon (词汇)（generate）―――D-structure (deep structure) ―――Movement Rules （ transform）―――― S-structure (Surface structure) A sentence may not look different when it is at different syntactic levels. Since syntactic movement does not occur to all sentences, the D-structure and S-structure of some sentences look exactly the same at different levels of representation.4 Moreα-a general movement ruleThere is a general movement rule accounting for the syntactic behavior of any constituent movement, called Moveα(or Move Alpha), which means “move any constituent to any place”. The problem is Moveαis too powerful and the grammar should include some conditions which will restrain this power and stimulate tha t only “certain constituents” move to “certain positions”.7、Toward a theory of universal grammarSince early 1980s, Noam Chomsky and other generative linguists proposed and developed a theory of universal grammar (UG) known as the principles and parameters theory. According to Chomsky, UG is a system of linguistic knowledge and a human species-specific gift, which exists in the mind or brain of a normal human being. According to principles-and-parameters framework, UG consists of a set of general conditions, or general principles, that generate phrases and at the same time restrain the power of Moveα, thus preventing this rule from applying in certain cases. UG also contains a set of parameters that allow general principles to operate in certain ways, according to which particular grammar of natural languages vary。

语言学概论第四章笔记句法学Chapter 4 Syntax 句法学1．W hat is Syntax?Syntax studies the sentence structure of language. The term syntax came originally from Greek. It literally meant arrangement. It means that sentences are structured according to a particular arrangement of words. Well-arranged sentences are considered grammatical sentences. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.句法学研究语言的句子结构。

该术语来自希腊语，字意是排列。

句子是根据一种特定的排列词的方式构成的。

排列正确的句子被认为是合乎语法的句子。

合乎语法的句子是根据一套句法规则构成的。

句法是一个规则系统。

2. Syntax as a system of rules 句法是规则系统Syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences. A sentence is considered grammatical when it is in agreement with the grammatical knowledge in the mind of native speakers. Universally found in the grammars f all human languages, syntactic rules comprise the system of internalized linguistic knowledge of a language speaker known as linguistic competence.The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, and yet there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.句法是一个由一套数量有限的抽象规则组成的系统，句子由单词组合而成。

The Study on Grammar关于语法的研究AbstractThe study of grammar began in the fifth century B.C. with Plato and Aristotle in Greece and a Sanskrit scholar named Panini in India. Now, it has developed into four kinds of grammar. They are traditional grammar, structural grammar, transformational grammar and universal grammar. The paper mainly introduce these four kinds of grammars, then explores their effects on English teaching and analyze their limitations. At last, the paper will explore how to apply these grammars into language teaching.Key words: grammar; limitation; language teaching摘要对于语法的研究始于公元前15世纪，是由希腊的柏拉图与亚里士多德和印度的一个叫帕妮妮的梵文学者开创的。

由语法的发展可以将其分为四种语法：传统语法、结构语法、转换生成语法和普遍语法。

这篇论文主要介绍这四种语法，然后探讨这四种语法在英语教学中的作用及其局限性。

最后笔者将探讨如何将这四种语法运用到外语教学中去。

关键词：语法；局限性；语言教学1. IntroductionGrammar is the system by which a language functions. The description of that system is also called a grammar. In a restricted sense, grammar refers to a level of structural organization which can be studied independently of phonology and semantics, and generally divided into the branches of syntax and morphology. If a grammar defines the total set of rules possessed by a speaker, it is a competence grammar. If a grammar is capable of explaining only the sentences a speaker has actually used, it is a performance grammar. If a grammar claims to account for the grammatical competence of every adult no mater what language he or she speaks to establish the universal characteristics of human language in general, it is a universal grammar.There are different methods of description. A prescriptive grammar states rules for what is considered the best or most correct usage. Prescriptive grammar are often based not on descriptions of actual usage but rather on the grammarian’s views of what is best. A descriptive grammar is a systematic description of a language as found in a sample of native-speakers’ speech or writing. Descriptive grammar describes how a language is actually spoken and written and does not state or prescribe how it ought to be spoken or written.2. Four kinds of grammarNot all grammarians describe the system by which language functions in the same way. Various grammarians have formulated their own descriptions.2.1 Traditional grammarTraditional grammar is an attempt to summarize the range of attitudes and methods found in the prelinguistic era of grammatical study. The emphasis on such matters as correctness, linguistic purism, literary excellence, the use of Latin models and the priority of the written language characterizes this approach. For example, English Traditional Grammar provides fairly standard rules for using shall and will, or me and I, or commas in compound sentences.What ultimately happens with Traditional Grammar is that the system becomes moreimportant than the syntax. Using the eight parts of speech, the complicated vocabulary of analysis such as gerund, participle, transitive-intransitive, subordinating conjunction, independent clause in the analysis of languages, and the many different lines one must draw in the sentence diagram characterizes this traditional approach.Traditional Grammar has one significant point in its favour as an analytical system. It has given the other grammars many terms they use, such as the notions of hierarchy, universals and word classification. But linguistics is critical of the notional approach to the study of grammar in so far as the “notion”involved are incapable of systematic and consistent exposition, and replaces it with an emphasis on formal criteria. Forma criteria refer to phonological and grammatical criteria which define units and classes.2.2 Structural GrammarStructural Grammar is different from Traditional Grammar. Instead of focusing on the individual word and its notional meaning or its part-of-speech function in the sentence, Structural Grammar focuses on sounds, forms, word groups, and phrases, working from smaller to larger constituents. It tends to analyze the meaning carried by the syntactic patterns that morphemes and words make with each other, patterns like those formed by plural morphemes, modifier-verb or modifier-adjective connections, subject-predicate connections and so on. Structural Grammar developed three analytical techniques: test frames, immediate-constituent analysis, and sentence formulas.2.2.1 Test Frames（测试框架）Test Frames are blanks in simple sentences that may be filled in with a particular class of word, such as a noun or an adjective.(1) The ___ cries. (“The” or “A/An” _____ verb)(2) He was driving a ___ fast. (Subject, predicate, “the” or “a/an”, _____ adverb)(3) Put it on that ___. (〔Subject〕, predicate, preposition, 〔modifier〕_____)2.2.2 Immediate-constituent Analysis（直接成分分析）It is a term used in grammatical analysis to refer to the major divisions that can be made within a syntactic construction, at any level. This technique is referred to as IC analysis. For example, in analyzing the sentence The man is speaking, the immediate constituents would bethe man and is speaking. These in turn can be analyzed into immediate constituents ( the+man, is +speaking), and the process continues until no further divisions can be made.2.2.3 Sentence Formulas（句式）When we work with detailed IC analyses, we can derive four basic syntactic patterns, which are called sentence formulas:Type 1: Noun/Pronoun + Verb The dog died.Type 2: Noun/Pronoun + Verb + Adjective They found it interesting.Type 3: Noun/Pronoun + Verb + Noun/Pronoun He bought a book.Type 4: Noun/Pronoun + Verb + Noun/Pronoun-1 + Noun/ Pronoun-22.3 Transformational GrammarTransformational Grammar (TG) is a theory of grammar which was proposed by Chomsky in 1957. Chomsky attempted to provide a universal model for the description of all languages. There are seven models:2.3.1 Phrase Structure Grammar（词组结构语法）Phrase structure grammars contain rules which are capable not only of generation strings of linguistic elements, but also of providing a constituent analysis of the strings.The simple grammar will generate not only the structure (1), but also other similar sentence structures, thus providing a partial account of the creativity of natural language.2.3.2 Transformation（转换）Transformation is a formal linguistic operation which enables two levels of structuralpresentation to be placed in correspondence. The most well-known model is often referred to as the Standard Theory. This model consists of four main parts: the base component, the transformational component, the phonological component and the semantic component.2.3.3 Movement（移动）Movement transformations have the effect of moving constituents from one part of a structure to another. There are two main types of movement: WH-movement特殊疑问词移动and NP-movement名词词组移动.(1) The city was destroyed —［S［NPe］was［VP destroyed［NP the city］］］(deep structure)↓NP movement↓［S［the city i］was［VP destroyed［NP t i］］］(surface structure)(2)Which car will your father put — in the garage?［S Comp［your father will［VP put［NP which car］in the garage］］］↓WH-movement↓S Comp［NP which car i］will your father［VP put［NP t i］in the garage］］］2.3.4 X-bar Theory （X-阶理论）X-bar is a system of grammatical analysis developed as an alternative to classical analysis of phrase structure. X-bar theory claims that the phrasal level and the lexical level are insufficient to capture all the details of phrase structure, and that more phrasal categories need to be recognized. There are some items: intermediate categories中间语类, specifier, complement and adjunct限定词、补语、附加语, IP (Inflectional phrase屈折变化词组, AGR(agreement)呼应.2.3.5 Bounding（界限理论）The basic idea of bounding is that movements are not possible out of certain constructions. One way of handling this is the theory of Subjacency (Chomsky 1973), which subsumesseveral earlier constraints. It should suit for the principle of subjacency邻近原则. That is no movement can move an element over more than one bounding node at a time.〔CP〔NP e〕might〔AGRP they wonder〔CP what〔AGRP he said to who〕〕〕〕*Who might they wonder what he said to?2.3.6 Government and Binding Theory（管辖与约束理论）It deals with whether expressions in the sentence may refer to the same entities as other expressions. It is basically concerned with the issue of how pronouns and other types of nouns relate to each other. There are two principles: The Case Assignment Principle授格原则, The Binding Principle约束原则.2.3.7 The Minimalist Programme（最简方案）The Minimalist Programme develops directly out of the Government and Binding approach. The theory attempts to reduce the grammar to its minimum. The Principle of Economy is a more general requirement that language structures be as economical as possible: the only elements that can appear in a sentence are those which need to.2.4 Universal Grammar (UG)Universal grammar is a theory which claims to account for the grammatical competence of every adult no matter what language he speaks. It claims that every speaker knows a set of principles which apply to all languages and also a set of parameters that can vary from one language to another, but only within certain limits. There are some concepts in UG:2.4.1 I-language and E-language 内化语言与外化语言Chomsky distinguishes Externalized(E-) language from Internalized(I-) language (Chomsky 1986, 1991). The former is viewed as something independent of the properties of the mind, and the latter an internal property of the human mind. Thus, E-language linguistics aims to collect samples of language and then to describe their properties. I-language linguistics aims to discover what constitutes language knowledge, that is, what a speaker knows about language and where this knowledge comes from.2.4.2 Linguistic Competence and Linguistic Performance 言语能力和言语行为The distinction between competence and performance partly corresponds to the distinction between I-language and E-language. Linguistic competence refers to “the speaker/hearer’sknowledge of his language”, the system of rules which he has mastered so that he is able to produce and understand an indefinite number of sentences, and to recognize grammatical mistakes and ambiguities. Linguistic performance is the “actual use of language in concrete situations”(Chomsky 1965). Performance is an imperfect reflection of competence.2.4.3 Universal Grammar普遍语法The goals of Chomsky’s theory are to describe language as a property of the human mind and to explain how it is acquired. TG tries to show, with a system of rules, the knowledge which a native speaker of a language uses in forming grammatical sentences.2.4.4 Language Acquisition Device(LAD) 语言习得装置In the late 1960s Chomsky and others claimed that every normal human being was born with an LAD. Chomsky described language acquisition as a black box problem—although we can observe the sentences which children produce, we cannot observe how they actually acquire language. The LAD which includes basic knowledge about the nature and structure of human language is the capacity to acquire one’s first language; it enables the child to make hypotheses about the structure of language in general, and about the structure of the language it is learning in particular.3. The limitation of four kinds of grammar3.1 Traditional GrammarFirstly, traditional grammar is normative and prescriptive rather than explicit and descriptive. Its rules re illogical, it is inconsistent and inadequate as a description of actual language in use. It neglects not only the contemporary uses but also the functional and social varieties of language. Its approach is diachronic rather than synchronic. Fries in his book The Structure of English challenges the traditional grammars by calling them “not insightful”, “pre-scientific”, “prescriptive” and having a “literary bias”.Secondly, it over-emphasize the importance of written words, partly because of its permanence. People were encouraged to imitate the “best authors” for language usage. Many of the rules of traditional grammar apply only to the written language, they cannot be made meaningful in terms of the spoken language, without much qualification and addition.Thirdly, traditional grammar also force language into a Latin-based framework. For along time on the European continent it was unquestionably assumed that Latin provides a universal framework into which all languages fit. As a result, other languages were forced to fit into Latin patterns and categories, especially its case system and tense divisions of past, present and future.Fourthly, traditional grammar failed to provide the kinds of analysis required, it just focuses on the individual word and its notional meaning or its part-of-speech function in the sentence.Lastly, it cannot resolve the ambiguity existing in the grammatical forms. Its methods are inaccurate, incomplete and inconsistent, and the descriptions are inexplicit and intuitive. John Lyons states, “The traditional grammarian tended to assume, not only that the written language was more fundamental than the spoken, but also that a particular form of the written namely the literary language, written and spoken, and that it was his task, as a grammarian, to preserve this form of language from corruption.”3.2 Structural grammarStructural grammar contains three analytical techniques: test frames, immediate-constituent analysis, and sentences formulas. Each of the three techniques has limited effectiveness for an adequate analysis of a language.Test frames will show some parts of speech but cannot comment in detail on structural methods in a sentence: coordination, subordination and so on. Although IC analysis can identify some superficial structures it fails to reveal the process of a syntactic construction. Although sentence formulas can generate a number of very simple sentence they can not account for some important semantic distinctions.Furthermore, structural grammar avoid meaning, no appeal is made to meaning. Bloomfield stated that, “meaning is complicated, only omniscient generalists can analysis or arrange it”. (Bloomfield P197) All categories are arrived at in a purely mechanical manner. Hence noun, for example, no longer defined as a “person, place or thing”as in traditional grammar but as any item which can occur in the position immediately after that.In brief, structural grammar fails to reveal the infinite capacity which language has for creating new sentences. From a pedagogical standpoint, it is difficult to see that anunderstanding of immediate-constituent analysis will help the learner grasp the fundamental principles involved in sentence construction.3.3 Transformational grammarThere are seven models of transformational grammar: phrase structure grammar, transformation, movement, X-bar Theory, bounding, government and binding theory, the minimalist programme.There are two problems associated with the phrase structure grammar. First, it is too unconstrained in the set of possible phrase structure rules it permits. Second, it is too restricted in the number of types of categories it permits. Since its outline, there have been several attempts to remedy the deficiencies of the phrase structure grammar.Transformation model has tree diagrams, it is complex and difficult to comprehend, so it may not be used in English teaching.The rule of movement permits the movement of any constituent from one part of a sentence to another, but its application is limited. If in practice this is not possible, then there might be a set of universal or language-specific rule which determine why if is not possible to move certain constituents into certain other positions.As the grammar matured, however, it lost its simplicity and much of its elegance. In addition, transformational grammar has been plagued by Chomsky's ambivalence and ambiguity regarding meaning. Chomsky continued to tinker with transformational grammar, changing the theories and making it more abstract and in many respects more complex, until all but those with specialized training in linguistics were befuddled.Transformational grammar failed to solve most of the problems because Chomsky refused to abandon the idea of deep structure, which is at the heart of transformational grammar but which also underlies nearly all of its problems. Such complaints have fueled the paradigm shift to cognitive grammar."3.4 Universal grammarAccording to Chomsky, UG is present in the child’s mind as a system of principles and parameters. The principles of UG are principles of the initial state. The initial universal grammar of a child consists of fixed principles and unset parameters.Although there is a big argument on Chomsky’s UG theory, it is useful in Second Language Learning.4. Grammar and second language teachingTraditional teaching grammar method is to teach students grammar rule after rule. The learners have to remember the dull rules in mind, but they can’t use them freely. When they are speaking a foreign language, they have to stop from time to time to think of the sentence structure and the grammar rules in order to express themselves correctly, but in the course of practical communicating with one another, perhaps it is unimaginable to stop for a moment to have some time to think about something and then speak continuously. What they should do is trying to speak fluently and make the language receiver understand them. In the traditional teaching of the grammar, the center of the process is the teacher, and the teacher controls every learner’s action as possible as he can. The learners are the passive receivers, because they can’t think, speak freely. What they have to do is to remember the rules the teacher taught them. That is, this process is a passive one of learning. And now, teachers will not use this method to teach grammar.Some language professionals look at how sentences are put together in linguistic research, as they can garner some clues about how a person is learning a language according to the sounds and arrangements he selects. This type of research provides vital information on what a person can and cannot understand at different age levels. It can alter how an individual communicates based on his audience and has a strong link to both education and marketing.Those who are studying a second language also find analysis of sentence construction useful. They use it in a method called comparative analysis, in which they see how the elements and structures of the two languages are the same or different. It is important because a person sometimes has to abandon the engrained structural rules of his native language to properly employ the second language. In English, for example, adjectives precede the words they modify. In French, they generally follow the modified words. Using the proper words but under the wrong arrangement is a telltale sign that someone is not a native speaker.Teachers also use structural grammar in language and composition classes. In the past, educators taught people how to improve sentences and communication through techniquessuch as sentence diagramming. Academic professionals still employ these methods. The trend, however, is for teachers to combine structural and transformational grammar and to teach language with other techniques, such as having students rephrase given sentences.Chomsky’s Transformational Grammar can used in English vocabularies learning, writing and ambiguity avoiding. In vocabularies learning, learners can divide words into different groups, such as color group, autonomy group. In writing, learners can transform short sentences into long sentences. Learners can also use internal structure to avoided ambiguity.The strongest case for the operation of principles of UG in interlanguage grammars can be made if learners demonstrate knowledge of subtle and abstract linguistic properties which could neither have been learned from L2 input alone nor derived from the grammar of the mother tongue.5. ConclusionA grammar is a description of the grammatical structure of a language and the way in which linguistic units are combined to produce sentences in the language. Traditional grammar is usually based on earlier grammars of Latin or Greek and applied to some other language. In a mere seventy years, traditional grammar has been fundamentally challenged by structural grammar. Structuralism has a more restricted definition, referring to the Bloonfieldian emphasis on the processed of segmenting and classifying the physical features of utterance with little reference to the abstract underlying structures of language or their meaning. Structural grammar has in turn been superseded by a transformational grammar, which focuses on the mental state of the language user. And then it was developed into Universal grammar.This paper firstly introduced four kinds of grammar, and then find out their limitations. Lastly, it discussed the relationship between these four grammars and Second Language Teaching. This paper explore the relationship between grammar and SLA. Although the debate is still going on in the field of Linguistics, our understanding of language development especially the grammar in Linguistics has surely been greatly enhanced by such debates.References：Lyons J. 1981. Language and linguistics [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 219 223 228 237.Bloomfield. 1985. 《语言论》（汉译本）。

Lecture 4 X-bar theoryPhrase structure rules revisited NP D (AP) N e.g. the (good) friendVP V NP e.g. chase the catPP P NP e.g. on the top(1)the king of England[NP the [NP king of England]]NP D NPQuestions:What is the problem of this phrase structure rule? What is the consequence of it?Phrase structure rules revisited NPD NPD NPD NPD NPEmpirical evidence not found in English:* the our this king of EnglandPhrase structure rules revisitedNPD ?theN PPkingof EnglandA flat structure(2) [The big book of poems with the blue cover] is on the table.NPD AP N PP PPthe bookbig of poems with the blue coverNP D (AP) N (PP) (PP)Q: What is the constituent structure of it?What are the structural relations in it?A constituency testOne-replacement testa. [The big book of poems with the blue cover] is on the table,but not [the small one with the red cover].b. [The big book of poems with the blue cover] is on the table,but not the small one.c. [This big book of poems with the blue cover is on the table,but not that one.Q: What kind of constituent can be replaced by one? Does theflat structure reflect such constituencies?Evidence for N-barNP [one]D N’1the AP N’2big N’3PPN PP with the blue coverbookof poemsOne-replacement rule: Replace an N’ node with one .NP D N’N’1 AP N’2N’2 N’3PP N’3 N PPEvidence for P-bar(8) a. Mary placed the candy [right [in the middle of the cake]].b. Mary knocked it [right [off the table]and [into the trash]].(9) a. Mary was [[in love]with John].b. Mary was [[in love]and [at odds]with John].(10) a. Mary was [utterly [in love]].b. Mary was [utterly [in love]], but Louise was only[partly [so]].Complements and adjuncts(11) the student of linguistics with long hairNPD N’theN’ PPN PP with long hairstudentof linguistics Q: What are the structural relations found among adjunct, complement and head?complementadjunctComplements and adjunctsAdjunct rule: X’ X’ (WP)Complement rule: X’ X (ZP)•Properties:Adjunct rule is an iterative rule, showing the property of recursion.Complement rule can only apply once.•Consequences:(12) a. a book of syntax with a blue cover from CUP by Andrew Carnieb. a book of syntax with a blue cover by Andrew Carnie from CUPc. a book of syntax from CUP with a blue cover by Andrew Carnied. a book of syntax from CUP by Andrew Carnie with a blue covere. a book of syntax by Andrew Carnie with a blue cover from CUPf. a book of syntax by Andrew Carnie from CUP with a blue cover(13) a. * a book with a blue cover of syntax from CUP by Andrew Carnieb. * a book from CUP of syntax with a blue cover by Andrew Carniec. * a book by Andrew Carnie of syntax with a blue cover from CUPComplements and adjuncts(12)a. the student of linguistics with long hairb. the student of linguisticsb. the student with long haircf. study linguistics(13) a. the destruction of the city with weaponsb. the destruction of the cityc. the destruction with weaponscf. destroy the cityDistinguishing complements and adjuncts(17) a. John fears dogs.b. John is afraid of dogs.c. John has a fear of dogs.(18) a. John chased Mary [near the sofa].b. John put the book [near the sofa].(19) a. John crawled [for an hour].b. The party lasted [for an hour].(20) John sold the car to Mary for $2000.Distinguishing complements and adjuncts•Iterability: Adjuncts are typically repeatable oriterable, whereas complements are not.(21) a. Fred deftly handed a toy to the baby by reachingbehind his back over lunch at noon in a restaurant lastSunday in Back Bay without interrupting the discussion.(Bresnan 1982: 164)b. Fred handed a toy to the baby.(22) a. * Mary crawled Lisa.b. * Mary saw Lisa that tree.c. * Mary gave a toy to Lisa to Susan.Distinguishing complements and adjuncts XP XX’ X’X’ ZP ZP X’X’ ZP X’ ZP X’ ZP ZP X’X WP X WPDistinguishing complements and adjuncts •Optionality: Complements are obligatory, whereas adjuncts can usually be omitted without ill-formedness.(23) a. * Mary chased.b. * Mary gave a toy.c. * Mary handed a toy.(24) a. Mary crawled quickly along the carpet to the sofa.b. Mary chased Lisa out of the house around thebuilding after dinner.c. Mary handed a toy very carefully to Lisa with a smile.Distinguishing complements and adjuncts Note:Predicate alternations:(25) a. Mary ran.b. Mary ran a meeting.(26) a. Mary is writing.b. Mary is writing a book.c. Mary is writing a letter to John.d. Mary is writing John a letter.Distinguishing complements and adjuncts •Lexical sensitivity: The presence of special requirements implies the complement relationwith the head.(27) a. Mary gave a toy to/*from/*on/*toward Lisa.b. Mary ran to/from/toward/after/with Lisa.(28) a book of/*from/*at/*to/*with/*under/*on syntaxDistinguishing complements and adjuncts•Chinese examples（29）a. 长头发戴眼镜的北外语言学学生b. 戴眼镜长头发的北外语言学学生c. 北外长头发戴眼镜的语言学学生d. 北外戴眼镜长头发的语言学学生e. *语言学长头发戴眼镜的北外学生f. *语言学戴眼镜长头发的北外学生g. *语言学北外长头发戴眼镜的学生（30）a. 张三下棋的棋友vs. * 张三下棋的男孩cf. 跟张三下棋的棋友/男孩b. 张三跳舞的舞伴vs. * 张三跳舞的女孩cf. 跟张三跳舞的舞伴/女孩c. 张三打牌的牌友vs. * 张三打牌的男孩cf. 跟张三打牌的牌友/男孩（31）a. 玛丽唱歌的声音很好听。

语言学第四章要点(2011-10-11 21:15:48)说明：本章要点参考了多本教材，其中的X-bar theory, Universal Grammar, merger and move等部分仅供考研的同学参考。

其他同学不做要求。

第四章Syntax句法学1.Syntax定义is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language. Sentences are structured according to particular arrangement of words.2、Syntax as a system of rules. as a major component of grammar, syntax consists of a set of abstract rules that allow words to be combined with other words to form grammatical sentences3、Sentence structureSubject all language have ways of referring to some entity, such as a person , a place, a thing, an idea, or an event, this referring expression is grammatically called subject. A subject may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.2.Type of sentence英语的句子中的三种基本类型是什么？Traditionally, three major types of sentences are distinguished. They are simple sentence, coordinate or compound sentence and complex sentence.A simple sentence consists of a single clause which contains a subject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence. For example, ① John reads extensively. the sentences contains a single clause and can stand structurally independent.A coordinate sentence并列句 contains two clauses joined by a linking word called coordinat ing conjunction, such as “and”, “but”, “or”. The two clauses in a coordinate sentence are structurally equal parts of the sentence; neither is subordinate to the other. For example, ③ John is reading a linguistic book, and Mary is preparing for her history exam.A complex sentence contains two or more clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other. The two clauses in a complex sentence have unequal status, one subordinating the other. The incorporated, or subordinate, clause is normally called an embedded clause子句, and the clause into which it is embedded is called a matrix sentence主句. For example, ⑤ Mary told Jane [that John liked linguistics]. In the above examples, the clauses in the square brackets are embedded clauses. Theyare subordinate to the clauses outside the brackets which are called matrix clauses.A complex sentence的特征：Some conclusions can be drawn from the complex sentence.1、an embedded clause functions as a grammatical unit in its matrix clause.2.most embedded clauses require an introductory word called a subordinator, such as “that”,” if ”.3.an embedded clause may not function as a grammatically well-formed sentence if it stands independently as a simple sentence unless it form changes.3、linearly- and hierarchically-structured.(线形结构和层次结构Language is a highly structured system of communication. Sentences are not formed by randomly(随意)combining lexical items, but by following a set of syntactic rules that arrange linguistic elements in a particular order to make a string of words not only meaningful but also linearly- and hierarchically-structured.(线形结构和层次结构)Hierarchical structure: the sentence structure that groups words into structural constituents and shows the syntactic categories of each structural constituent, such as NP and VP.5、Syntactic categories:句法类型1.lexical categories词类 (four major lexical categories and six minor lexical categories)2. Phrasal categories 短语类(lexical items have certain combinational properties that allow them to combine with words of different categories to form phrase. NP VP PP AP)6、Grammatical relations(语法关系) The structural and logical relations of constituents are called grammatical relations. It concerns the way each noun phrase in the sentence relates to the verb. (who does what do whom). Structural vs. logical subject, object. (**)7、Combinational rules组合规则1、Phrase structural rules The combinational pattern in a linear formula may be called a phrase structural rule, or rewrite rule. It allows us to better understand how words and phrases form sentences, and so on.2、Syntactic movement and movement rules Syntactic movement occurs whena constituent in a sentence moves out of its original place to a new position, the sentence involving which cannot be described by phrase structure rules. It was governed by transformational rules, the operationof which may change the syntactic representation of a sentence (句法的表达方式).3、什么是X-标杆理论?X-bar theory is a general and highly abstract schema that collapses all phrasal structure rules into a single format: X″→ (Spec) X (Compl). In this format, Spec stands for specifier while Compl stands for complement. This theory is capable of reducing the redundancies of individual phrasal structure rules and may well capture certain basic properties shared by all phrasal categories, i.e. NP, VP, AP, PP, across the languages of the world.4、Syntactic movement and movement rulesSyntactic movement occurs when a constituent in a sentence moves out of its original place to a new position, the sentence involving which cannot be described by phrase structure rules. It was governed by transformational rules, the operation of which may change the syntactic representation of a sentence (句法的表达方式).1 NP-movement and WH-movementNP-movement occurs when, for example, a sentence changes from the active voice to the passive voice (postpose, prepose).WH-movement is obligatory in English. It changes a sentence from affirmative to interrogative.2 Other types of movementAUX-movement (auxiliary)3 D-structure and S-structureThe syntactic component of the grammar:Phrase Structure Rules + the Lexicon (词汇)（generate）―――D-structure (deep structure) ―――Movement Rules （ transform）―――― S-structure (Surface structure) A sentence may not look different when it is at different syntactic levels. Since syntactic movement does not occur to all sentences, the D-structure and S-structure of some sentences look exactly the same at different levels of representation.4 Moreα-a general movement ruleThere is a general movement rule accounting for the syntactic behavior of any constituent movement, called Moveα(or Move Alpha), which means “move any constituent to any place”. The problem is Moveαis too powerful and the grammar should include some conditions which will restrain this power and stimulate tha t only “certain constituents” move to “certain positions”.7、Toward a theory of universal grammarSince early 1980s, Noam Chomsky and other generative linguists proposed and developed a theory of universal grammar (UG) known as the principles and parameters theory. According to Chomsky, UG is a system of linguistic knowledge and a human species-specific gift, which exists in the mind or brain of a normal human being. According to principles-and-parameters framework, UG consists of a set of general conditions, or general principles, that generate phrases and at the same time restrain the power of Moveα, thus preventing this rule from applying in certain cases. UG also contains a set of parameters that allow general principles to operate in certain ways, according to which particular grammar of natural languages vary。

第一章Ⅰ. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Linguistics is generally defined as the scientific study of language.2. Linguistics studies particular language, not languages in general.3. A scientific study of language is based on what the linguist thinks.4. In the study of linguistics, hypotheses formed should be based on language facts and checked against the observed facts.5. General linguistics is generally the study of language as a whole.6. Modern linguistics regards the written language as primary, not the written language.7. The distinction between competence and performance was proposed by F. de SaussureⅡ. Fill in each of the following blanks with one word which begins with the letter given:1. Chomsky defi nes “competence” as the ideal user’s k__________ of the rules of his language.2. Langue refers to the a__________ linguistic system shared by all the members of a speech community while the parole is the concrete use of the conventions and application of the rules.3. D_________ is one of the design features of human language which refers to the phenomenon that language consists of two levels: a lower level of meaningless individual sounds and a higher level of meaningful units.4. Language is a system of a_________ vocal symbols used for human communication.5. Findings in linguistic studies can often be applied to the settlement of some practical problems. The study of such applications is generally known as a________ linguistics.6. Language is p___________ in that it makes possible the construction and interpretation of new signals by its users. In other words, they can produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences which they have never heard before.第二章1.V oicing is a phonological feature that distinguishes meaning in both Chinese and English.2.A phone is a phonetic unit that distinguishes meaning.3.Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called voicing.4.Any sound produced by a human being is a phoneme.5.Phonology is concerned with how the sounds can be classified into different categories.6.The rules governing the phonological patterning are language specific.1.Of all the speech organs, the _______ is/ are the most flexible.A. mouthB. lipsC. tongueD. vocal cords2.The sounds produced without the vocal cords vibrating are ____ sounds.A. voicelessB. V oicedC. vowelD. consonantal3．__________ is a voiced alveolar stop.A. /z/B. /d/C. /k/D./b/4. The assimilation rule assimilates one sound to another by “copying”a feature of a sequential phoneme, thus making the two phones ____________.A. identicalB. sameC. exactly alikeD. similar5. Since /p/ and /b/ are phonetically similar, occur in the same environments and they can distinguish meaning, they are said to be ___________.A. in phonemic contrastB. in complementary distributionC. the allophonesD. minimal pair6.The sound /f/ is _________________.A. voiced palatal affricateB. voiced alveolar stopC. voiceless velar fricativeD. voiceless labiodental fricative7. A ____ vowel is one that is produced with the front part of the tongue maintaining the highest position.A. backB. centralC. frontD. middle8. Distinctive features can be found running over a sequence of two or more phonemic segments. The phonemic features that occur above the level of the segments are called ____________.A. phonetic componentsB. immediate constituentsC. suprasegmental featuresD. semantic features9. A(n) ___________ is a unit that is of distinctive value. It is an abstract unit, a collection of distinctive phonetic features.A. phoneB. soundC. allophoneD. phoneme10.The different phones which can represent a phoneme in different phonetic environments are called the ____ of that phoneme.A. phonesB. soundsC. phonemesD. allophones第三章1. The morpheme “vision”in the common word “television”is a(n) ______.A. bound morphemeB. bound formC. inflectional morphemeD. free morpheme2. The compound word “mother wit”refers to inborn wit. This indicates that the meaning of a compound __________.A. is the sum total of the meaning of its componentsB. can always be worked out by looking at the meanings of morphemesC. is the same as the meaning of a free phrase.D. None of the above.3. The part of speech of the compounds is generally determined by the part of speech of __________.A. the first elementB. the second elementC. either the first or the second elementD. both the first and the second elements.4. _______ are those that cannot be used independently but have to be combined with other morphemes, either free or bound, to form a word.A. Free morphemesB. Bound morphemesC. Bound wordsD. Words5. _________ is a branch of grammar which studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.A. SyntaxB. GrammarC. MorphologyD. Morpheme6. The meaning carried by the inflectional morpheme is _______.A. lexicalB. morphemicC. grammaticalD. semantic7. Bound morphemes are those that ___________.A. have to be used independentlyB. can not be combined with other morphemesC. can either be free or boundD. have to be combined with other morphemes.8. ____ modify the meaning of the stem, but usually do not change the part of speech of the original word.A. PrefixesB. SuffixesC. RootsD. Affixes9. _________ are often thought to be the smallest meaningful units of language by the linguists.A.WordsB. MorphemesC. PhonemesD. Sentences10. “-s”in the word “books”is _______.A. a derivative affixB. a stemC. an inflectional affixD. a root1. Morphology studies the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed.2.Words are the smallest meaningful units of language.3. Just as a phoneme is the basic unit in the study of phonology, so is a morpheme the basic unit in the study of morphology.4. The smallest meaningful units that can be used freely all by themselves are free morphemes.5. Bound morphemes include two types: roots and affixes.6. Inflectional morphemes manifest various grammatical relations or grammatical categories such as number, tense, degree, and case.7. The existing form to which a derivational affix can be added is called a stem, which can be a bound root, a free morpheme, or a derived form itself.8. Prefixes usually modify the part of speech of the original word, not the meaning of it.9. There are rules that govern which affix can be added to what type of stem to form a new word. Therefore, words formed according to the morphological rules are acceptable words.10. Phonetically, the stress of a compound always falls on the first element, while the second element receives secondary stress.第四章Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:1. Syntax is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sentence structure of language, including the combination of morphemes into words.2. Grammatical sentences are formed following a set of syntactic rules.3.The syntactic rules of any language are finite in number, but there is no limit to the number of sentences native speakers of that language are able to produce and comprehend.1. A s________ sentence consists of a single clause which contains a sub­ject and a predicate and stands alone as its own sentence.2. A s______ is a structurally independent unit that usually comprises a number of words to forma complete statement, question or command.3. A s______ may be a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence that usually precedes the predicate.4. The part of a sentence which comprises a finite verb or a verb phrase and which says something about the subject is grammatically called p_________.5. A c_________ sentence contains two, or more, clauses, one of which is incorporated into the other.6._______ relation is a kind of relation holding between elements replaceable with each other at a particular place in a structure.7. The technique of breaking up sentences into smaller units by making successive binary cutting is called _______.1. A sentence is considered ____ when it does not conform to the grammati­cal knowledge in the mind of native speakers.A. rightB. wrongC. grammaticalD. ungrammatical2. A __________ in the embedded clause refers to the introductory word that introduces the embedded clause.A. coordinatorB. particleC. prepositionD. subordinator3. Phrase structure rules have ____ properties.A. recursiveB. grammaticalC. socialD. functional4. Phrase structure rules allow us to better understand _____________.A. how words and phrases form sentences.B. what constitutes the grammaticality of strings of wordsC. how people produce and recognize possible sentencesD. All of the above.5. Syntactic movement is dictated by rules traditionally called ________.A. transformational rulesB. generative rulesC. phrase structure rulesD. x-bar theory6. The sentence structure is ________.A. only linearB. Only hierarchicalC. complexD. both linear and hierarchical7. The syntactic rules of any language are ____ in number.A. largeB. smallC. finiteD. infinite8. The ________ rules are the rules that group words and phrases to form grammatical sen­tences.A. lexicalB. morphologicalC. linguisticD. combinational9._______ rules may change the syntactic representation of a sentence.A. GenerativeB. TransformationalC. X-barD. Phrase structure第五章1. The conceptualist view holds that there is no d_______ link between a linguistic form and what it refers to.2. R______ means what a linguistic form refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience.3. Words that are close in meaning are called s________.4. When two words are identical in sound, but different in spelling and meaning, they are called h__________.5. R_________ opposites are pairs of words that exhibit the reversal of a relationship between the two items.6. C ____ analysis is based upon the belief that the meaning of a word can be divided into meaning components.7. Whether a sentence is semantically meaningful is governed by rules called s________ restrictions, which are constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.8. According to the n______ theory of meaning, the words in a lan­guage are taken to be labels of the objects they stand for.True or False1. Linguistic forms having the same sense may have different references in different situations.2. In semantics, meaning of language is considered as the intrinsic and inherent relation to the physical world of experience.3. Contextualism is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reducemeaning to observable contexts.4. Behaviourists attempted to define the meaning of a language form as the situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls forth in the hearer.5. The meaning of a sentence is the sum total of the meanings of all its components.6. In grammatical analysis, the sentence is taken to be the basic unit, but in semantic analysis of a sentence, the basic unit is predication, which is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence.Of the following pairs of sentences, say whether a entails b in each case.a: John is a bachelor. b: John is a man.a: Eliza plays the fiddle. b: Someone plays a musical instrument.a: I’ve done my homework. b: I haven’t brushed my teeth.a: Some of the students came to my party. b: Not all of the students came to my party.a: Mary owns three canaries. b: Mary owns a canary.a: John picked a tulip. b: John didn’t pick a rose.第六章1. Both semantics and pragmatics study how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication2. Pragmatics treats the meaning of language as something intrinsic and inherent.3. It would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if the context of language use was left unconsidered.4. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered.5. The major difference between a sentence and an utterance is that a sentence is not uttered while an utterance is.6. The meaning of a sentence is abstract, but context-dependent.7. The meaning of an utterance is decontexualized, therefore stable.8. Utterances always take the form of complete sentences9. Speech act theory was originated with the British philosopher John Searle.10. Speech act theory started in the late 50’s of the 20th century.11. Austin made the distinction between a constative and a performative.12. Perlocutionary act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention.13. _________ is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication.14. What essentially distinguishes _______ and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered.15. The notion of _________ is essential to the pragmatic study of language.16. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes an ___________.17.The meaning of a sentence is _______, and decontextualized.18. ________ were statements that either state or describe, and were thus verifiable.19. ________ were sentences that did not state a fact or describe a state, and were not verifiable.20. A _________ act is the act of uttering words, phrases, clauses. It is the act of conveying literal meaning by means of syntax, lexicon and phonology.21. An __________ act is the act of expressing the speaker’s intention; it is the act performed insaying something.22. A _________ is commit the speaker himself to some future course of action.23. An ________ is to express feelings or attitude towards an existing state.24.There are four maxims under the cooperative principle: the maxim of q_______, the maxim of quality, the maxim of relation and the maxim of manner.25. _________ does not study meaning in isolation, but in context.A. PragmaticsB. SemanticsC. Sense relationD. Concept26. The meaning of language was considered as something _______ in traditional semantics.A. contextualB. behaviouristicC. intrinsicD. logical27. What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning _________ is considered.A. referenceB. speech actC. practical usageD. context28. A sentence is a _________ concept, and the meaning of a sentence is often studied in isolation.A. pragmaticB. grammaticalC. mentalD. conceptual29. If we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the course of communication, it becomes a(n) _________.A. constativeB. directiveC. utteranceD. expressive30. Which of the following is true?A. Utterances usually do not take the form of sentences.B. Some utterances cannot be restored to complete sentences.C. No utterances can take the form of sentences.D. All utterances can be restored to complete sentences.31. Speech act theory did not come into being until __________.A. in the late 50’s of the 20the centuryB. in the early 1950’sC. in the late 1960’sD. in the early 21st century.32. __________ is the act performed by or resulting from saying something; it is the consequence of, or the change brought about by the utterance.A. A locutionary actB. An illocutionary actC. A perlocutionary actD. A performative act33. When any of the maxims under the cooperative principle is flouted, _______ might arise.A. impolitenessB. contradictionsC. mutual understandingD. conversational implicaturesI. Decide whether each of the following statements is True or False:l. F 2. F 3.T 4.T 5.F 6.F 7.F 8.F 9.F 10.T 11.T 12.FII. Fill in each blank below with one word which begins with the letter given:13. Pragmatics 14. semantics 15. context 16. utterance 17. abstract18.Constatives 19. Performatives 20. locutionary 21. illocutionary22. commissive 23. expressive 24. quantityIII.There are four choices following each statement. Mark the choice that can best complete the statement:25. A 26.C 27.D 28.B 29.C 30.B 31.A 32.C 33.D。

xbar theory 语言学名词解释
X-bar理论（X-bar theory）是语言学中的一个重要理论，旨在概括所有短语结构的共同特点。

该理论认为，所有短语的性质都是由短语中心成分（head）决定的，X代表一个短语的性质，可以是名词短语、动词短语、形容词短语或介词短语等。

在X-bar理论中，短语由指示语、核心词和补语组成，其中指示语和补语可有可无，但核心词却不可缺少。

该理论将各种短语结构规则高度抽象地综合成单一的X-bar规则理论，有助于理解语言中复杂短语结构的组成和功能。

此外，X-bar理论也指出了不同语言在结构上的共性，即所有语言的本质结构都是一样的，但由于参数和一些其他（特别复杂）的各种movement和principle使得他们的表层结构不同，从而使得每种语言的语法和结构看上去都很不同。

总之，X-bar理论对于语言学研究具有重要意义，为语言结构的分析和生成提供了重要的理论基础。

如需更多信息，建议阅读语言学相关论文或请教语言学专家。

希沃白板在初中英语语法中的运用
希沃白板（x-bar theory）是一种用来解释句子结构的语言学理论。

它由英国语言学家 Noam Chomsky 在 1980 年代提出。

在初中英语语法中，希沃白板可以用来帮助学生理解句子的结构和语法规则。

希沃白板的基本思想是，句子由两部分组成：主要成分（X）和修饰成分（XP）。

主要成分包括主语（Subject）和谓语（Predicate），修饰成分包括定语（Attribute）、宾语（Object）和状语（Adverbial）等。

主要成分和修饰成分的关系可以用“白板”的形式来表示。

例如，在初中英语中，学生可以使用希沃白板来分析句子的结构，如下所示：
The cat sits on the chair.
主要成分：The cat sits 修饰成分：on the chair
这个句子的白板形式可以表示为：
XP | X on the chair | The cat sits
通过分析句子的白板形式，学生可以更好地理解句子的结构和语法规则。

总的来说，希沃白板是一种有用的工具，可以帮助学生更好地理解句子的结构和语法规则。

在初中英语课程中，学生可以使用希沃白板来分析句子的结构，并学习不同的句子类型，如主谓句、状语从句等。

学习这些句子类型可以帮助学生更好地掌握句子的构成，并且可以帮助学生在写作中更好地掌握句子的结构和语法。

X―bar 理论在分析英语短语歧义性中的应用摘要：运用美国当代最著名的语言学家N. Chomsky 句法理论中的X-bar理论对中学英语教学中常见的短语歧义现象作了分析和解释，认为运用这一理论能够更直观、更清晰、更迅速地让学生掌握和理解英语的短语结构，使学生意识到英语短语结构的层次性、隐蔽性以及由此导致的多义性，从而在学习中自觉地、主动地避免望文生义的现象。

关键词：句法理论；X-bar理论；歧义性乔姆斯基X-bar理论其实就是关于短语结构的理论。

用抽象的树型图来表示短语结构和句子结构，向来是生成转换语法的重要技术手段，而且一般都认为是转换语法的优势。

由于在理论发展的不同阶段，乔姆斯基对X-bar理论都有不同的修正，我们这里谈及的是其支配及约束理论时期的理论。

这一时期的X-bar理论为句法结构提供了一种高度抽象、高度概括的描述方法，所以得以一直沿用到最简方案时期。

当然，这一时期的X-bar理论并非滴水不漏，也是处于不断的自我改造、自我更新的过程中，但这并不是本文要谈及的内容。

本文只探讨X-bar理论在中学英语教学中用于分析短语歧义性的应用。

一、用于分析名词短语结构及其歧义性的解释X-bar理论是用来描述短语结构和句法结构的。

下面先谈一谈它在教学中对名词短语结构的描述及其解释作用。

英语中的一个短语一般只有一种结构的解释，但也有些结构可以有两种或多种结构分析。

如，名词短语the old man可以分析为：而名词短语a nice lady’s handbag则可以有两种分析：前一种结构分析中A节点与N’节点是姐妹节点，形成修饰关系，句意为“一只漂亮的女式手提包”，而后一种结构分析中nice 修饰lady，句意为“一位漂亮女士的手提包”。

更有甚者，名词短语an old French student有三种分析：在这个短语中，由于French既可以作形容词用，意义为“法国的，或法国人的”，分析为图4，又可作名词用，意义为“法语”，分析为图5；而old和 French又可以一起用来修饰student。

On the Characteristics and Developing Trend of Chomskian Generative Linguistics：A Case Study of X-Bar Theory at the Stage of Classical Theory
作者： 万成宾[1] 赵俊姝[2] 王健[3]
作者机构： [1]西南林学院外语系,云南昆明650224 [2]昆明学院外语系,云南昆明650031
[3]四川外语学院成都学院英语师范系,四川成都611731
出版物刊名： 云南农业大学学报：社会科学版
页码： 96-102页
主题词： 乔姆斯基 生成语言学 X阶标理论 特点 发展趋势
摘要：以生成语言学古典理论阶段中的X阶标理论为例，指出乔姆斯基生成语言学的特点
是“以独立论为方法论指导原则，以理想化言者的内化语言能力为研究对象，以揭示语言的普
遍性为研究目的，并且力求研究方案的最简性”。

乔姆斯基全新的生成语言观被人奉为“乔姆
斯基革命”，然而乔姆斯基生成语言学也受到了不少批评，诸如“忽略或者不重视语境、语言
功能以及研究范围局限于短语或句子”等问题。

为让理论更全面诠释语言现象，本文认为乔姆
斯基生成语言学与功能学派有必要深入加强对话。