Syntactic Structures Spring 2009 Final Exam Due Friday June 5 I. German Passives A. The examples below illustrate active-passive pairs in embedded clauses in German. (1) Wir wissen, dass jedes Jaar Regen die Haelfte der Ernte zerstoert. "We know that every year rain destroys (the) half of the harvest" (2) Wir wissen, dass jedes Jaar die Haelfte der Ernte von Regen zerstoert wird. "We know that every year (the) half of the harvest is destroyed by rain" (3) Die Rechnungen zeigen, dass die Firma den Gewinn vergroessert hat. "The calculations show that the firm has exaggerated the profits" (4) Die Rechnungen zeigen, dass der Gewinn von der Firma vergroessert worden ist. "The calculations show that the profits have been exaggerated by the firm" (5) Ich glaube, dass die Professoren das Buch gelesen haben muessen. "I believe that the professors must have read the book" (6) Ich glaube, dass das Buch von den Professoren gelesen worden sein muss. "I believe that the book must have been read by the professors" (7) Es ist schade, dass die Kinder einen Affen nach Hause gebracht haben. "It is a shame that the children have brought a monkey home" (8) Es ist schade, dass ein Affe von den Kindern nach Hause gebracht worden ist. "It is a shame that a monkey has been brought home by the children" Based on these examples, propose a formulation of the Passive transformation in German. It should be consistent with what you know about German from earlier work. Present and discuss it thoroughly. Then show the derivations of the following sentences: (9) Wurde der Affe von den Kindern nach Hause gebracht? "Was the monkey brought home by the children?" (10) Die Affen sind von dem Kind nach Hause gebracht worden. "The monkeys have been brought home by the child." (11) Die Affen muessen von dem Kind nach Hause gebracht worden sein. "The monkeys must have been brought home by the child." (12) Dass Affen von Kindern nach Hause gebracht werden, wird von allen Muettern beklagt. "That monkeys are brought home by children is deplored by all mothers." II. Samoan 1. The following examples illustrate the structure of Noun Phrases in Samoan. Construct a grammar fragment, including a set of Phrase Structure Rules and a Lexicon, to generate Samoan Noun Phrases. NOTE: The translations are not exact. They are just there to help you figure out the structure. Also, the apostrophe ['] represents a glottal stop. ['o] is distinct from [o]. (1) 'o le fale "the house" 'o fale "the houses" (2) 'o le tama "the boy" 'o tama "the boys" (3) 'o le teine "the girl" 'o teine "the girls" (4) 'o se fala "a mat" 'o ni fala "some mats" (5) 'o se la'au "a tree" 'o ni la'au "some trees" (6) 'o le teine puta "the fat girl" (7) 'o va'a lapopo'a "the big boats" (8) 'o ni la'au lapopo'a "some big trees" (9) 'o ni la'au lapopo'a lava "some very big trees" (10) 'o se koneseti lelei lava "a very good concert" (11) 'o le tama i le va'a "the boy in the boat" (12) 'o pou o le fale tele "the posts of the great house" (13) 'o le va'a loa lava i le vai "the very long boat in the water" (14) 'o se tama leaga "a bad boy" 2. The examples in this section illustrate the structure of simple sentences in Samoan. Construct a Phrase Structure Grammar for Samoan sentences, based on these examples, adding to your lexicon as needed. Where appropriate, mention probable subcategorization restrictions on lexical items. Assume that word orders other than those given are impossible. (15) ua alu le va'a "the boat has gone" (16) ua talanoa le ali'i "the chief has spoken" (17) ua sau le teine i le fale "the girl has come into the house" (18) o lo'o alu le va'a "the boat is going" (19) o lo'o talanoa le ali'i "the chief is speaking" (20) o lo'o pese le teine "the girl is singing" (21) e sau Ioane i Apia "John comes to Apia" (22) e alu le teine i le koneseti "the girl goes to the concert" (23) o lo'o savavali tama i le a'oga "the boys are walking to school" (24) o lo'o 'a'e le tama i le niu "the boy is climbing the coconut tree" (25) o lo'o sisiva teine "the girls are dancing" (26) ua 'a'aua'o tama mo le vasega "the boys have studied for the class" (27) e talanoa le tama i le telefoni "the boy talks on the telephone" (28) ua leaga le fuamoa "the egg is bad" 3. The following examples illustrate an alternative pattern. Describe it, and propose a change to the grammar to generate these sentences. (29) 'o Ioane e sau i Apia "John comes to Apia" (30) 'o le teine o lo'o tata lavalava "the girl is washing the clothes" (31) 'o le ali'i tele ua talanoa "the great chief has spoken" (32) 'o tama ua alu i le va'a "the boys have gone in the boat" 4. The examples below illustrate passive sentences in Samoan. Revise your grammar to generate them. (33) 'o Ioane ua fasi le pua'a "John has killed the pig" (34) ua fasia le pua'a e Ioane "the pig has been killed by John" (35) 'o le pua'a ua fasia e Ioane "the pig has been killed by John" (36) 'o le tama ua fai le va'a "the boy has made the boat i le to'i with an axe" (37) 'o le la'au ua faia e le tama "the boat has been made by the boy i le to'i with an axe" (38) ua maua le tama le polo "the boy has found the ball" (39) ua mauaa le polo e le tama "the ball has been found by the boy" (40) 'o le teine o lo'o ave le fala "the girl is taking the mat" (41) o lo'o avea le fala e le teine "the mat is being taken by the girl" (42) 'o le teine e tausi le fale "the girl takes care of the house" (43) e tausia le fale e le teine "the house is taken care of by the girl" Discuss anything that you think needs discussing. III. WH Questions 1. We have seen WH Questions, like (1) Who was this article on the origin of bananas written by? For practice, show the derivation of (1). 2. Untitled (2) We don't know what the dwarves have been saying. (3) It was impossible to find out how far Bill's dog's fleas can swim. (4) Where the monkeys put the bananas is a mystery to me. (5) I wonder which boxes those monkeys put the bananas in. a. If these examples are compatible with your WHQ transformation, show how by giving the derivation of (3). b. If they aren't, fix it so that they are, and then do (a). 3. Also untitled (6) What do you think the dwarves have been saying? (7) How far did Bill claim his dog's fleas can swim? (8) Whose car did Harvey advise Sue to borrow? (9) What do you think these examples show about WHQ movement? 4. Give (and discuss thoroughly) derivations for the following sentences: (10) Who did Mary believe Harvey told to wash the car? (11) How many prisoners did they say were forced to read poetry?