14
[7b] They were attending the rock concert. The subject they in [7b] corresponds to the subject the fans of [7a]. Thus, relative
pronoun who can replace the subject position to form more elegant sentence such as [7]. The process in which [7b] push in within [7a] to form a more elegant
sentence such as [7] is called the embedding.
2. Theoretical Review of the X-Bar Schema
Discussing the X-Bar, it traces back to the classical and notorious work of Chomsky 1957. Chomsky mentions that phrase-structure rules might contain
another phrase of the same type. In a noun phrase, for example, it might have another noun phrase which theoretically without any limit. Therefore, to avoid the
recurring use of phrasal category such as noun phrase NP, verb phrase VP, prepositional phrase PP or adjective phrase AP, Chomsky 1970 introduces
the concept of the X-Bar, where X can be any lexical category. O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff and Rees-Miller 2005: 155 and Radford 1997: 92 explain
further the X in a hierarchal design in a concept of head, specifier and complement. Therefore, the X schema, as the name suggest, is the template for
phrase structure, indicating that a phrase is hierarchically organised with a head, complement and specifier.
a. The Blueprint
O’Grady et al. 2005: 156 and Radford 1997: 92 state that a typical phrase can be broken down into three parts. They are head, specifier and
15
complement. Figure 2.1 illustrates the blueprint of the X schema X is pronounced X-Bar in which X stands for any category such as noun, verb,
adjective or preposition, thus XP stands for a phrase such as NP, VP, AP, or PP.
Figure 2.1 The X Schema O’Grady et al., 2005: 156
The structure, as Figure 2.1 illustrates, which is often called tree captures the hierarchical organisation of phrases and sentences. In particular, the X schema
captures four generalisations. First, all phrases have three-level structure. Those are X, X and XP. Second, all phrases contain a head X. Third, if there is a
complement, it is attached at the intermediate X level, as a sister of the head. Finally, if there is a specifier, it is attached at the XP level. The followings are the
expansion of the head, specifier and complement feature and how those features come up together.
1 Head, Specifier and Complement
The head is the essential core around which a phrase is built. Similar to the XP notion above, X refers to any category functions as the head. Therefore, as an
example, a noun phrase contains a noun as the head as well as a verb phrase contains a verb as the head. Although phrases usually consist of two or more
words, a head may form a phrase all by itself O’Grady et al., 2005: 156.
16
On the other hands, the type of specifier appearing in a particular phrase depends on the category of the head. Syntactically, specifiers mark a phrase
boundary which occur at the beginning of the respective phrase whereas semantically specifiers make the meaning of the head more precise O’Grady et
al., 2005: 157. Needless to say, the specifier attaches to XP in accordance with the X schema. Table 2.1 presents the specifier in relation to the head.
Table 2.1 Specifiers in Relation to Head O’Grady et al., 2005: 157
Category Typical Function
Examples
Determiner Adverb
Degree word Det
Adv Deg
specifier of N specifier of V
specifier of A or P the, a, this, those, no
never, perhaps, often, always very, quite, more, almost
Finally, complements, which are themselves phrases, provide information about the entities and locations whose existence is implied by the meaning of the
head O’Grady et al., 2005: 158. In order to give clearer insight into the relation between head, specifier and complement, Figure 2.2 as taken from O’Grady et al.
2005: 158 illustrates it.
Figure 2.2 A VP Consisting of a Specifier, a Head, and a Complement
O’Grady et al., 2005: 158
Figure 2.2 illustrates a phrase which consists of a head, a specifier and a complement. In accordance with the X schema, the verb eat is the head. It takes a
17
NP a hamburger as a complement comprises a determiner a and a noun hamburger. Finally, the head takes the adverb never as the specifier to form a verb
phrase as it is illustrated above. The followings are the explanation on how those categories can come up together and build larger phrases.
2 Merge Operation
According to O’Grady et al. 2005: 159 merge operation or merger Radford, 1997: 94 combines words in a manner compatible with the X schema.
Figure 2.2 illustrates that a determiner a merge with a noun hamburger to form a NP. It also captures that the verb eat merge with the adverb never and the NP a
hamburger to form a VP. In other words, merge actually combines smaller syntactic category such as noun, verb, adjective and adverb to form a new phrasal
category. Radford 1997: 14-16 and 37 also argues that grammatical operations in a natural language are category based and all words in the language belong to a
restricted set of category. There are three approaches according to O’Grady et al. 2005: 154-155 to determine the category of words. The category of words can
be determined by meaning, inflection and distribution. Meaning is used to determine the category of words based on designation.
Noun usually names entities or individual such as pen, book as well as Bob and Ron. On the other hand, verb designates actions like in eat, drink and write.
Adjective denotes the property of a noun such as in beautiful girl, the word beautiful modifies the word girl. Similarly, the adverb attributes the action,
sensation and state. However, meaning cannot tackle words with similar meaning PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
18
but they have different category. As an example, the similarity between like and found are difficult to be designated. Although they share the same meaning, they
belong to different category. In addition to meaning, inflection also can be employed to determine the
category of words. Table 2.2 provides information and examples related to the inflection.
Table 2.2 Lexical Categories and Their Inflectional Affixes O’Grady et al., 2005: 154
Category Inflectional affix
Examples
Noun Verb
Adjective N
V A
plural -s possessive -‘s
past tense -ed progressive -ing
third person singular -s comparative -er
superlative -est books, chairs, doctors
John’s, the man’s arrived, melted, hoped
arriving, melting, hopping arrives, melts, hops
taller, faster, smarter tallest, fastest, smartest
However, inflection does not always provide information needed for assigning category of word. For examples, some verbs like see, teach and sing have
irregular past form. Therefore, -ed inflection cannot be applied. Finally, distribution is employed to determine the category of words by
figuring out the co-occurrence between the type of elements or functional category with another functional category. Table 2.3 provides information about
the distributional properties.
Table 2.3 Distributional Properties of Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives O’Grady et al., 2005: 155
Category Distributional Property
Examples
Noun Verb
Adjective N
V A
occurrence with a determiner occurrence with an auxiliary
occurrence with a degree word a car, the wheat
has gone, will stay very rich, too big
19
Therefore, based on the Table 2.3 it is certain that a verb cannot occur with a determiner or a degree word and a noun cannot occur with an auxiliary.
Furthermore, according to O’Grady et al. 2005: 152-153 the four most studied syntactic categories are noun N, verb V, adjective A and preposition
P. These elements, which are often called lexical categories, play a very important role in sentence formation. However, languages may also contain
nonlexical or functional categories, including determiner Det, auxiliary verb Aux, conjunction Con, and degree word Deg. Such elements generally have
meanings that are harder to define and paraphrase than those of lexical categories are. Nonlexical categories are easier to interpret when they attach to the lexical
category. Table 2.4 provides the information and examples of the lexical and nonlexical category.
Table 2.4 Syntactic Categories O’Grady et al., 2005: 153
Lexical categories Examples
Noun Verb
Adjective Preposition
Adverb N
V A
P Adv
Harry, boy, wheat, policy, moisture arrive, discuss, melt, hear, remain, dislike
good, tall, old, intelligent, beautiful to, in, on, near, at, by
slowly, quietly, now, always
Nonlexical categories Examples
Determiner Auxilary verb
Modal Nonmodal
Conjunction Degree word
Det Aux
Con Deg
the, a, this, these will, can, may, must, should, could,
be, have and, or, but
too, so, very, more, quite
In short, merge operations combine two categories to form another phrasal category in accordance to the X schema. Figure 2.3 which is adopted form
O’Grady et al. 2005: 155-160 illustrates the merge operation. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
a. b.
Figure 2.3 Merge Operations in Action O’Grady et al., 2005:
The noun phrase the computer consists of the words the and computer. According to the syntactic categories, the is a determiner and computer is a noun. Therefore,
they merger to form a NP in which N functions as the head. Similarly, the word book is a noun. It merges with the determiner the to form a NP. In the end, it
merges with the verb read to form a larger phrasal category. As the result, they make a VP read the book in which the verb read functions as the head.
b. The I and the Inflection Phrase
