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SYNTAX - part of grammar next to morphology, phonology, and semantics

o studies combining words, how words relate to each other in a sentence o can be discussed separately from meaning (semantics)

Recursiveness - there's no limit to the length of a sentence and we can produce combinations we've never heard before Language vs language

o Language - a psychological or cognitive property of humans - a subconscious ability to produce words and translate them into ideas and thoughts - we have a vague idea of what is happening in the brain when producing language - a precondition of the brain which allows us to use language o language - an instance of Language, like French or English Generative Grammar

o Principles and Parameters approach - paradigm in the Generative Grammar - we have both Principles (invariant) and Parameters (variant) in languages o Minimalism

o A procedurę for the formation of sentences - there are rules that generate

sentences, but it is humans who produce sentences with accordance to generative grammar - these rules are infinite and recursive Descriptivism vs prescriptivism

o Prescriptivism - deals with how language is SUPPOSED TO BE USED (e.g. no splitting infinitives, BUT to quickly leave)

o Descriptivism - deals with how language is ACTUALLY USED Anaphor - a pronoun which ends with -self (anaphoric pronouns) o Reflexives - myself, themselves, yourself o Reciprocals - each other, one another o A rule

■    Anaphors require antecedent (BUT imperatives- kiss yourself-the antecedent is known)

■    Gender agreement (BUT animals - it or he/she)

■    Number agreement

■    Person agreement o Binding theory

■    Principle A - anaphors (reflexives and reciprocals) must be bound locally

■    Principle B - pronominals must be free locally

■    Principle C - r-expressions (names and definite DPs) must be free everywhere

■ [Which pictures of himself]i does John despise t|?

•    Anaphor must be c-commanded by its antecedent within a binding domain (the most local clause) to be bound

•    It violates principle A, but it moved, so before the wh-movement it was c-commanded by John!

•    Which pictures of himself does John despise (which pictures of himself) - S-structure - copy of the moved element, not tracę

Universal grammar

o Universal Grammar - some part of grammar may be instinctual and innate o According to Generative Grammar the knowledge of language is too extensive to be learned