![]() We state and discuss six conditions that encapsulate the claims of X-bar theory: LEXICALITY-each nonterminal is a projection of a preterminal SUCCESSION-each Xn + 1 dominates an Xn for all n ≥ 0 UNIFORMITY-all maximal projections have the same bar-level MAXIMALITY-all nonheads are maximal projections CENTRALITY-the start symbol is a maximal projection and OPTIONALITY-all and only nonheads are optional. In this paper we will demonstrate that a formalization of its content reveals very little substance in its claims. The most common job for specifiers is as the subjects of sentences, so we’ll look at those in another unit.X-bar theory is widely regarded as a substantive theory of phrase structure properties in natural languages. A specifier is a phrase that is sister to the bar-level and daughter to the phrase level. X-bar theory also proposes that phrase can have a specifier. In phrases like my sister, those shoes, and the weather, the determiner is a head that takes an NP complement. The other common place we see a head-complement relationship is between a determiner and a noun. Try to think of some other examples of verbs and prepositions that take noun phrases as their complements. The complement of the preposition is the noun phrase campus and the whole phrase is near campus. The head of this phrase is the preposition near, so the phrase is a preposition phrase. Here’s another example that has the same structure, but a different category. The NP coffee is sister to the verb head and daughter of the V-bar node so it is a complement of the verb. That head has the noun phrase coffee as its sister. Let’s look at some examples. Here we’ve got a verb phrase, with the verb drank as its head. The most common kinds of head-complement relationship we see are a verb taking an object or a preposition taking an object. If there’s a phrase in that position, it’s called the complement. A phrase might optionally have another phrase inside it in a position that is sister to the head and daughter to the bar level. We could have a noun phrase that consists of a single noun - Coffee? or Spiderman! We could have verb phrase that has nothing in it but a verb, like Stop! or Run! Or an adjective phrase might consist of only a single adjective, like Nice… or Excellent!īut X-bar theory proposes that phrases can have more in them than just ahead. If they’re optional, that means that it should be possible to have a phrase that consists of just a single head - and if we observe some grammaticality judgments, we can think of phrases and even whole sentences that seem to contain a head and nothing else. That’s to show that they’re optional - they might not necessarily be in every phrase. But you’ll notice in this diagram that these other two pieces, the specifier and the complement, which we haven’t talked about yet, are in parentheses. So if every phrase in every sentence in every language has this structure, then it must be the case that every phrase has a head. What about the middle level of the structure? Syntacticians love to give funny names to parts of the mental grammar, and this middle level of a phrase structure is called the bar level that’s where the theory gets its name: X-bar theory. ![]() So the bottom-most level of this structure is called the head level, and the top level is called the phrase level. And likewise, if the head is a preposition (P), then the phrase is a preposition phrase (PP), and Adjective Phrases (AP) have Adjectives as their heads. If the head is a verb (V) then the phrase is a verb phrase (VP). So if the head is a Noun, then our phrase is a Noun Phrase, abbreviated NP. Whatever category the head is determines the category of the phrase. The head is the terminal node of the phrase. Let’s look at it more closely. According to x-bar theory, every phrase has a head. Here’s a tree diagram that shows us that basic organization. ![]() X-bar theory makes the claim that every single phrase in every single sentence in the mental grammar of every single human language, has the same core organization. The theory of syntax that we’re working within this class is called X-bar theory. ![]() We saw in the last unit how we can use tree diagrams to show these relationships between words, phrases and sentences. We’ll see that within each sentence, our mental grammar groups words together into phrases and phrases into sentences. We’re starting to look at how our minds organize sentences.
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