Midterm

Problem 1: Trees Chapter 3		Using the flat trees of Chapter 3, draw trees for the following sentences. Remember: Adjectives can only modify nouns, adverbs can never modify nouns, PPs can modify nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The child of a chef ate some very appetizing tidbits this week. A few much bigger fish remained behind the barrier. Someone denied the claim that dogs are four-legged creatures without hearts.
Problem 2: Trees Chapter 6		Using the X-bar theory of Chapter 6 (X-bar theory) draw trees for the following sentences. Note: Calling nouns adjectives will be penalized. Assume there is a noun-noun construction in English and use it where appropriate. To emphasize this point, do not use either of the analyses in Challenge problem 2, Chapter 6 for leather shoes. Assume prenominal modifiers of nouns CAN be NPs. That 200 Democrats criticized the strike setlement is extremely significant. Every Chicago football fan is very familiar with that book. No objections to the chair's proposal remained after the discussion. The strike settlement must specify whether the miners can return to work. John decided on the boat as his first purchase.
Problem 3: Complement Adjunct		In drawing trees for Problem 2 you had to make several decisions about whether a particular modifier was a complement or an adjunct. Defend your decision for 5 of the italicized constituents in Problem 2. The first step in defending your decision is to draw the tree for the alternative you did not choose. In other words, if you chose to make the modifier an adjunct, draw a tree which represents it as a complement. If you chose to make it an adjunct, draw a tree which represents it as a complement. Then you have to argue that your original tree is better than this alternative. In drawing the alternative, you do not have to draw the entire tree for the sentence. Just draw the tree up to the maximal projection of the head the italicized phrase modifies. For example, suppose the example sentence were The man liked the picture of the red donkey with gray ears. and suppose your orginal tree claimed with gray ears was an adjunct; then, since with gray ears is a PP modifying donkey, you would have draw a tree of the entire NP the red donkey with gray ears in which with gray ears was represented as a complement. Arguing that your original tree is better than the alternative tree means using at least 2 of the tests per modifier we have discussed for distinguishing complements from adjuncts. If you have any doubt whether something counts as a test, ask me. But the list of tests and the discussion of the complement adjunct distinction given here should help. You are asked to choose 5 italicized modifiers in 1; 2 tests per modifier means 10 tests total.
Problem 4: Binding Theory		For the following sentences, accept the given judgments. Explain whether the given judgment is predicted by the binding theory or is a problem for it. Explain why the given example is or is not a problem for the binding theory by explaining what the binding theory predicts. For each example, discuss all principles that affect the coindexed NPs. Remember, a single example can involve more than one principle. That picture of himi made Sami super proud. * I told themi that [Sara and Sue]i were sick. [Consider 2 analyses: (a) tell takes 2 complements, an NP and a clause; (b) tell takes only 1 complement, an NP. In that case you will have treat the clause as an adjunct. Which analysis works better for the Binding theory?] Fredi's psychic admires himi. * Every picture of himselfi delights Roberti. I talked to Johni about himselfi. * I talked about himi to Johni
Problem 5: Data analysis		Tzotzil is a Mayan language spoken in Mexico. Consider the following sentences, then answer the questions that follow. Glosses have been simplified and the orthography altered from the original source. (Data from Aissen 1987.) a) 'ispet lok'el 'antz ti t'ule. carry away woman the rabbit ``The rabbit carried away (the) woman.'' b) 'ibat xchi'uk smalal li Maruche. go with her-husband the Maruche ``(the) Maruch went with her husband.'' (Maruche is a proper name.) c) Pas ti 'eklixa'une. built the church ``The church was built.'' What is the NP rule for Tzotzil? What is the PP rule for Tzotzil? What is the VP rule for Tzotzil? What is the TP rule for Tzotzil? What is the subject of sentence (b)? Is [ the church ] a subject or an object of sentence ( c ) ? Does the verb precede the subject in Tzotzil? Does the object precede the subject in Tzotzil? Does the verb precede the object in Tzotzil? 1 Using the rules you developed in (1-4) above, draw the trees for (b) and (c).