CSE528
Natural Language Processing
Venue:ADB-405 Topic: Syntax
Pr o f. Tu l asi Pr a sa d S a ri ki ,
S CSE, V I T C h ennai Ca mpus
www. l [Link] l y. com
Contents
What is Syntax ?
Where does it fit ?
Simplified View of Linguistics
Grammatical Analysis Techniques
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
What is Syntax ?
Study of structure of language
Refers to the way words are arranged together, and the
relationship between them.
Syntax is study of the system of rules and categories that underlies
sentence formation.
Syntax is the study of the combination of words into phrases,
clauses and sentences.
Syntax describes how sentences and their constituents are
structured.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
What is Syntax ?
Roughly, goal is to relate surface form (what we perceive when
someone says something)
Specifically, goal is to relate an interface to morphological
component to an interface to a semantic component
Note: interface to morphological component may look like written
text
Representational device is tree structure
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Where does it fit ?
Semantics
Syntax
Lexicon
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Simplified View of Linguistics
Phonology /waddyasai/
Morphology /waddyasai/ what did you say
say
Syntax what did you say subj obj
say you what
Semantics subj obj
P[ x. say(you, x) ]
you what
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Acronyms used in structural descriptions
of natural language
S=sentence/clause ADJP=adjective phrase
N=(a single) noun ADV=adverb
NP=noun phrase ADVP=adverb phrase
V=verb DET=determiner
VP=verb phrase CONJ=conjunction
AUX=auxiliary verb COMP=complementizer
AJ/ADJ=adjective PRO=pro-constituent
PUNC=punctuation
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Examples
S=sentence/clause Does the dog chase the cat?
N=(a single) noun dog
NP=noun phrase the old dog
V=verb chase
VP=verb phrase chase the cat
AUX=auxiliary verb does
AJ/ADJ=adjective old
ADJP=adjective phrase old and gray
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Examples
ADV=adverb happily
ADVP=adverb phrase once upon a time
DET=determiner the
CONJ=conjunction and
COMP=complementizer what
PRO= pro-constituent he
PUNC=punctuation ?
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Grammatical Analysis Techniques
Two main devices
Breaking up a String Labeling the Constituents
Sequential Morphological
Hierarchical Categorial
Transformational Functional
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Sequential Breaking up
That student solved the problems.
that + student + solve + ed + the + problem + s
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Sequential Breaking up and
Morphological Labeling
That student solved the problems.
that student solve ed the problem s
word word stem affix word stem affix
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Sequential Breaking up and
Categorial Labeling
This boy can solve the problem.
this boy can solve the problem
Det N Aux V Det N
They called her a taxi.
They call ed her a taxi
Pron V Affix Pron Det N
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Sequential Breaking up and
Functional Labeling
They called her a taxi
Subject Verbal Direct Indirect
Object Object
They called her a taxi
Subject Verbal Indirect Direct
Object Object
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Hierarchical Breaking up
Old men and Old men and women
women
Old men and women Old men and women
men and women
Old men
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Hierarchical Breaking up and Categorial
Labeling
Poor John Sran away.
NP VP
A N V Adv
Poor John ran away
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Hierarchical Breaking up and Functional Labeling
Immediate Constituent (IC) Analysis
Construction types in terms of the function of the constituents:
Predication (subject + predicate)
Modification (modifier + head)
Complementation (verbal + complement)
Subordination (subordinator + dependent unit)
Coordination (independent unit + coordinator)
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Syntax as defined by Bloomfield
It is the study of free forms that are composed entirely of free forms.
Central notions of his theory
Form classes and
Constituent Structures
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Form-Classes
Form-Class – A set of forms displaying similar or identical
grammatical features is said to constitute a form-class, e.g.
‘Walk’, ‘come’, ‘run’, ‘jump’ - belong to the form-class of infinitive
expressions.
‘John’, ‘the boys’, ‘Mr. Smith’ – belong to the form-class of
nominative substantive expressions.
Form-Classes are similar to the traditional parts of speech.
One and the same form can belong to more than one form class.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Form-Classes (contd.)
Criterion for form-class membership – Substitutability
In a sentence like – “John went to the Church”,
‘John’ can be substituted with ‘children’, ‘Mr. Smith’ or ‘the boys’
(as these are syntactically equivalent to each other and display
identical grammatical features).
Thus, form classes are sets of forms, any one of which may be
substituted for any other in a given construction.
The smaller forms into which a larger form may be analyzed are its
constituents, and the larger form is a construction.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Example of the Constituents of a Construction
The phrase "poor John" is a construction analyzable into, or
composed of, the constituents "poor" and "John."
Similarly, the phrase "lost his watch" is composed of - "lost," "his,"
and "watch"-- all of which may be described as constituents of the
construction put together in a linear order.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Constituency
Sentences or phrases can be analyzed as being composed of a
number of somewhat smaller units called constituents
(e.g. a Noun Phrase might consist of a determiner and a noun), and
This constituent analysis can be continued until no further
subdivisions are possible.
The major divisions that can be made are Immediate Constituents.
Ultimate Constituents - The irreducible elements of the construction
resulting from such an analysis.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Immediate Constituents
An immediate constituent is the daughter of some larger unit that
constitute a construction. Immediate constituents are often further
reducible.
There exists no intermediate unit between them that is a constituent
of the same construction e.g.
in a construction ‘poor John,’ ‘poor’ and ‘John’ are immediate
constituents.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Constructions
Subordinating Constructions - Constructions in which only one
immediate constituent is of the same form class as the whole
construction e.g. ‘poor John’, ‘fresh milk’.
The constituent that is syntactically equivalent to the whole
construction is described as the head, and its partner is described as
the modifier: thus, in "poor John," the form "John" is the head, and
"poor" is its modifier.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Constructions (contd.)
Coordinating Constructions - Constructions in which both
constituents are of the same form class as the whole construction
e.g. ‘men and women’, ‘boys and girls’
“Men and women," in which, it may be assumed, the immediate
constituents are the word "men" and the word "women," each of
which is syntactically equivalent to "men and women."
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Immediate Constituent Structure
The organization of the units of a sentence (its immediate
constituents) both in terms of their hierarchical arrangement and
their linear order.
IC Structure can be represented in the form of a tree diagram or
Using labeled bracketing, each analytic decision being represented
by a pair of square brackets at the appropriate points in the
construction.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Immediate Constituent Structure (contd.)
‘Poor John lost his watch’ is not just a linear sequence of five words.
It can be analyzed into the immediate constituents – ‘poor John’ and
‘lost his watch’
And each of these constituents is analyzable into its own immediate
constituents.
The Ultimate Constituents of the whole construction are- ‘poor’,
‘John’, ‘lost’, ‘his’, ‘watch’
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Immediate Constituent Structure (contd.)
In ‘poor John’ –
‘poor’ and ‘John’ are constituents as well as
Immediate constituents as there is no intermediate unit between
them that is a constituent of the same construction.
Similarly, in ‘lost his watch’ –
‘lost’, ‘his’ and ‘watch’ are constituents
Not all of them are immediate constituents.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Immediate Constituent Structure (contd.)
In ‘lost his watch’ –
‘his’ and ‘watch’ combine to make the intermediate construction
called ‘his watch’
‘his watch’ now combines with ‘lost’ to give
‘lost his watch’.
‘his’ and ‘watch’ are the constituents of ‘his watch’ and
‘lost’ and ‘his watch’ are immediate constituents of ‘lost his watch’
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Representing Immediate Constituent Structure
The constituent structure of the whole sentence can
be represented by means of labeled bracketing e.g.
[ [ [Poor] [John] ] [ [lost] [ [his] [watch] ] ]
Or using a tree diagram for the same -
poor John lost
his watch
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Representing Immediate Constituent Structure
(contd.)
Labeled bracketing using Category Symbols :
[ [ [Poor]ADJ [John]N ]NP [ [lost]V [ [his]PRON [watch ]N ]NP ]VP ]S
‘Poor’ – ADJ ‘Poor John’ - NP
‘John’ – N ‘his watch’ - NP
Lost – V ‘lost his watch’ - VP
His – PRON ‘Poor John lost his watch’ - S
Watch - N
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Immediate Constituent Structure using Tree
Diagram
S
NP VP
ADJ N V NP
PRON N
Poor John lost his watch
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Importance of the notion of Immediate
Constituent
It helps to account for the syntactic ambiguity of certain
constructions.
A classic example is the phrase "old men and women," which may be
interpreted in two different ways:
[Link] associates "old" with "men and women”; the immediate
constituents are "old" and "men and women
[Link] the second associates “old” just with "men." immediate
constructions are "old men" and "women."
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Predication
The part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating
something about the subject.
[Birds]subject [fly]predicate
S
Subject Predicate
Birds fly
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Modification
[A]modifier [flower]head
John [slept]head [in the room]modifier
S
Subject Predicate
John Head Modifier
slept In the room
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Complementation
He [saw]verbal [a lake]complement
S
Subject Predicate
He Verbal Complement
saw a lake
complements are required to complete the meaning of
a sentence or a part of a sentence.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Subordination
John slept [in]subordinator [the room]dependent unit
S
Subject Predicate
John Head Modifier
slept Subordinator Dependent Unit
is a way of combining sentences that makes one
sentence more important than the other. in the room
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Coordination
[John came in time] independent unit [but]coordinator [Mary was not ready] independent unit
Independent Unit Coordinator Independent Unit
John came in time but Mary was not ready
Coordination is a way of adding sentences together
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
An Example
S In the morning, the sky looked much brighter.
Modifier Head
Subordinator DU Subject Predicate
Modifier
Head Modifier Head Verbal Complement
Modifier
Head
In the morning, the sky looked much brighter
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Hierarchical Breaking up and
Categorial / Functional Labeling
Hierarchical Breaking up coupled with Categorial /Functional
Labeling is a very powerful device.
But there are ambiguities which demand something more powerful.
E.g., Love of God
Someone loves God
God loves someone
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Hierarchical Breaking up
Categorial Labeling Functional Labeling
Love of God Love of God
Noun Prepositional Head Modifier
Phrase Phrase
Sub DU
love of God love of God
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Types of Generative Grammar
Finite State Model
(sequential)
Phrase Structure Model
(sequential + hierarchical) + (categorial)
Transformational Model
(sequential + hierarchical + transformational) + (categorial + functional)
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG)
A phrase-structure grammar G consists of a four tuple (V, T, S, P)
V is a finite set of alphabets (or vocabulary)
◦ E.g., N, V, A, Adv, P, NP, VP, AP, AdvP, PP, student, sing, etc.
T is a finite set of terminal symbols: T V
◦ E.g., student, sing, etc.
S is a distinguished non-terminal symbol, also called start symbol: S
V
P is a set of productions.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Noun Phrases
John the student the intelligent student
NP NP NP
N Det N Det AdjP N
John the student the intelligent student
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Noun Phrase
his first five PhD students
NP
Det Ord Quant N N
his first five PhD students
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Noun Phrase
The five best students of my class
NP
Det Quant AP N PP
the five best students of my class
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Verb Phrases
can sing can hit the ball
VP VP
Aux V Aux V NP
can sing can hit the ball
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Verb Phrase
Can give a flower to Mary
VP
Aux V NP PP
can give a flower to Mary
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Verb Phrase
may make John the chairman
VP
Aux V NP NP
may make John the chairman
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Verb Phrase
may find the book very interesting
VP
Aux V NP AP
may find the book very interesting
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Prepositional Phrases
in the classroom near the river
PP PP
P NP P NP
in the classroom near the river
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Adjective Phrases
intelligent very honest fond of sweets
AP AP AP
A Degree A A PP
intelligent very honest fond of sweets
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Adjective Phrase
very worried that she might have done badly in the assignment
AP
Degree A S’
very worried
that she might have done badly in the
assignment
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Phrase Structure Rules
The boy hit the ball.
Rewrite Rules:
(i) S NP VP
(ii) NP Det N
(iii) VP V NP
(iv) Det the
(v) N man, ball
(v) V hit
We interpret each rule X Y as the instruction rewrite X as Y.
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Derivation
The boy hit the ball.
Sentence
NP + VP (i)
Det + N + VP (ii)
Det + N + V + NP (iii)
The + N + V + NP (iv)
The + boy + V + NP (v)
The + boy + hit + NP (vi)
The + boy + hit + Det + N (ii)
The + boy + hit + the + N (iv)
The + boy + hit + the + ball (v)
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
PSG Parse Tree
S The boy hit the ball.
NP VP
Det N V NP
the boy hit Det N
the ball
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
PSG Parse Tree
S
John wrote those words in the Book of
Proverbs.
NP VP
PropN V NP PP
P NP
NP PP
John wrote those in
words
the of
book proverbs
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Penn POS Tags
John wrote those words in the Book of Proverbs.
[John/NNP ]
wrote/VBD
[ those/DT words/NNS ]
in/IN
[ the/DT Book/NN ]
of/IN
[ Proverbs/NNS ]
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Penn Treebank
John wrote those words in the Book of Proverbs.
(S (NP-SBJ (NP John))
(VP wrote
(NP those words)
(PP-LOC in
(NP (NP-TTL (NP the Book)
(PP of
(NP Prove rbs)))
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
PSG Parse Tree
S Official trading in the
NP
shares will start in Paris
VP on Nov 6.
NP PP
Aux V PP PP
AP N P NP
official trading in the shares will start in Paris on Nov 6
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Penn POS Tags
Official trading in the shares will start in Paris on Nov 6.
[ Official/JJ trading/NN ]
in/IN
[ the/DT shares/NNS ]
will/MD start/VB in/IN
[ Paris/NNP ]
on/IN
[ Nov./NNP 6/CD ]
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Penn Treebank
Official trading in the shares will start in Paris on Nov 6.
( (S (NP-SBJ (NP Official trading)
(PP in
(NP the shares)))
(VP will
(VP start
(PP-LOC in
(NP Paris))
(PP-TMP on
(NP (NP Nov 6)
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
Penn POS Tag Sset
Adjective: JJ Plural Noun: NNS
Adverb: RB Personal Pronoun: PP
Cardinal Number: CD Proper Noun: NP
Determiner: DT Verb base form: VB
Preposition: IN Modal verb: MD
Coordinating Conjunction CC Verb (3sg Pres): VBZ
Subordinating Conjunction: IN Wh-determiner: WDT
Singular Noun: NN Wh-pronoun: WP
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
INTRODUCTION TO SYNTAX
