Linguistics 322

Fall 1999

Exercise No. 4

Problem I:

1.   Which of the following nouns have sense, and which are referential only?

1. mike, Paula, Bill, cup, rice, grandmother, Mike, sand, sun, Ralph, queen, Anne, a Ford.

Take one lexical noun and one referential noun from your answers and explain why one has sense and the other reference.

Problem II

2.   Determine the logical structure for the following sentences. Derive the S-structure (complete all feature copying) and the surface-structure (spell out each lexical item). In the third sentence, complete the final structure of the two NPs.

1. The boy swallowed a potato. (short form)
2. The dog caught a mouse. (short form)
3. The two elephants trampled the Mercedes. (long form)

Sample answer: Eloise bought a kitten (long form expanding NP):

Note: there should be square brackets placed around [+Ct, -Pl, +Def] for "a". (The original is lost.) And NUMBER ONE Should be dominated by Qu, and <argument> by NP --- N (All forms in red designate the product of a process. Green designates spell out).

Not mentioned in class is the claim that names, as opposed to lexical nouns, are inherently defintite. The name is the identity. DEFINITE, which modifies ELOISE above is null when modifying names of individuals; but when it refers to families, it is spelled out as the.; e.g., the Joneses.

In the simple forms where you don't have to apply any agreement rules and categorial rules, the form is much simplied:

Course Outline L322