List of linguistic example sentences - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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List of linguistic example sentences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following is a partial list of linguistic example sentences illustrating various linguistic phenomena.

Contents
1 Interaction of syntax and semantics 2 Ambiguity 2.1 Lexical ambiguity 2.2 Syntactic ambiguity 2.3 Syntactic ambiguity and incrementality 2.4 Scope ambiguity and anaphora resolution 2.5 Embedding 3 Word order 3.1 Order of adjectives 3.2 Ending sentence with preposition 3.2.1 Avoidance 3.2.2 Compound use 4 Parallels 5 Neurolinguistic examples 5.1 N400 6 Combinatorial complexity 7 Non-English examples 7.1 Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe 7.2 Latin 7.3 Mandarin Chinese 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Interaction of syntax and semantics

Syntax and meaning can interact, such that although a sentence is syntactically valid, and all of its words are meaningful, the sentence as a whole is meaningless. Examples of this type of sentence include: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. (Noam Chomsky) The gostak distims the doshes. (Andrew Ingraham.)

Ambiguity
Different types of ambiguity which are possible in language.

Lexical ambiguity
Demonstrations of words which have multiple meanings dependent on context.

Will Will will the will to Will? (Will Will [a person] will [bequeath] the will [a document] to Will [a second person]? Alternatively, "Will Will will Will the will?") Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. (Buffaloes from Buffalo, NY, whom buffaloes from Buffalo bully, bully buffaloes from Buffalo.) Rose rose to put rose roes on her rows of roses. (Robert J. Baran) (Rose [a girl] rose [stood] to put rose [pink-colored] roes [fish eggs as fertilizer] on her rows of roses [flower].) James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher [1] (With punctuation: "James, while John had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had a better effect on the teacher.") That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is (Grammatically corrected as: "That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.") If it is it, it is it, if it is, it is it, it is! Can can can can can can can can can can. ("Examples of the can can dance that other examples of the same dance are able to outshine, or figuratively to put into the trashcan, are themselves able to outshine examples of the same dance." It could alternatively be interpreted as a question, "Is it possible for examples of the dance that have been outshined to outshine others?" or several other ways.) If the police police police police, who polices the police police? Police police police police police police! [2] In a similar vein, Martin Gardner offered the example: "Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?"[3]

Syntactic ambiguity
Demonstrations of ambiguity between alternate syntactic structures underlying a sentence. The man saw the boy with the binoculars. They are hunting dogs. Free whales. Police help dog bite victim.
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He saw that gas can explode. Turn right here. We saw her duck. [4] Hole found in changing room wall; police are looking into it. In Animal Crackers, Groucho Marx (as Captain Rufus T. Spaulding) quipped: "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I'll never know." [5] As a special treat for our Easter service, Mrs. Smith will lay an egg on the altar. Ship sails tomorrow. Book stays in London. Wanted a nurse for a baby about twenty years old. The girl in the car that needed water is waiting. Did you ever hear the story about the blind carpenter who picked up his hammer and saw?

Syntactic ambiguity and incrementality

Demonstrations of how incremental syntactic parsing leads to infelicitous constructions and interpretations. Reduced relative clauses The horse raced past the barn fell. While the man was hunting the deer ran through the forest. [6] The old man the boats.

Scope ambiguity and anaphora resolution

Every farmer who owns a donkey beats it.[7]

Embedding
The rat the cat the dog bit chased escaped.[8]

Word order
Order of adjectives
The red big balloon.

Ending sentence with preposition

Prescriptive grammar has in the past prohibited "preposition stranding": ending sentences with prepositions (traditionally defined). This "rule" appears to have been invented in 1672 by John Dryden; for a long time thereafter it was uncritically recited. It had no basis in linguistic fact in 1672 and has none now.[9] Avoidance This is the sort of English up with which I will not put. (Attributed by Gowers to Winston Churchill. There is no convincing evidence that Churchill said this, and good reason to believe that he did not. [10] ) The sentence "does not demonstrate the absurdity of using [prepositional phrase] fronting instead of stranding; it merely illustrates the ungrammaticality resulting from fronting something that is not a constituent".[11] Throw the baby out the window a piece of bread. Compound use The little boy says to his father the lighthouse keeper, objecting to his choosing bedtime literature on the subject of Australia, "Daddy, what did you bring that book that I don't want to be read to out of about Down Under up around for?"[12] What did you turn your socks from inside out to outside in for? [ citation needed]

Parallels
Parallel between noun phrases and verb phrases with respect to argument structure The enemy destroyed the city.
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The enemy's destruction of the city.

Neurolinguistic examples
N400
Sentences with unexpected endings. She spread the bread with socks.[13]

Combinatorial complexity
Demonstrations of sentences which are unlikely to have ever been said, although the combinatorial complexity of the linguistic system makes them possible. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously (Noam Chomsky) - example that is grammatically correct but based on semantic combinations that are contradictory and therefore would not normally occur. Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers. (Stephen Fry, in A Bit of Fry & Laurie, series 1, episode 2)

Non-English examples
Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe
Gdaa-naanaanaa, Aanaa, naa?, meaning "We should fetch Anna, shouldn't we?".[14]

Latin
King Edward II of England was killed, reportedly after Adam of Orleton, one of his gaolers, received a message, probably from Mortimer, reading "Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est". This can be read either as "Edwardum occidere nolite; timere bonum est" ("Do not kill Edward; it is good to be afraid [to do so]") or as "Edwardum occidere nolite timere; bonum est" ("Do not be afraid to kill Edward; [to do so] is good"). This ambiguous sentence has been much discussed by various writers, including John Harington [15] and contributors to Notes and Queries[16] .

Mandarin Chinese
Various sentences using the syllables m!, m, m", m, and ma are often used to illustrate the importance of tones to foreign learners. One example: Chinese: ; pinyin: m!ma q m", m" mn, m!ma m m"; literally "Mother is riding a horse, the horse is slow, mother scolds the horse". [17] Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den poem of 92 characters, all with the sound shi (in 4 different tones) when read in Modern Standard Mandarin 1. The host's intention "()()" This literally means "It's a raining day and looks like the suggests (that I should ask) the guest to stay, (but) I don't want to do that." this suggests "the host is sick of the guest's stay, ask him/her to leave ASAP." 2. the smart guest's interpretation is "" This literally means "it's raining. it's that kind of day that the host should ask the guest stay. (the guest asks) 'do you want me stay?' (the host answers) 'Yes!' This suggests "the guest has to stay since the host ask him/her to do so." "" (by Confucius from ) 1. "" food, drink & sex are all important and necessary to human's life. 2. "" (interpreted by Su Qing) food & drink and man are all important and necessary to woman's life.

See also
Garden path sentence, a sentence that illustrates that humans process language one word at a time

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10. ^ Even the Churchill Centre describes this as "An invented phrase put in Churchill's mouth". "Quotations and Stories (http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/quotations/famous-quotations-and-stories) ", the Churchill Centre. The origin of the anecdote is investigated by Benjamin G. Zimmer in "A misattribution no longer to be put up with (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001715.html) ", Language Log, 12 December 2004. Both accessed 27 December 2009. 11. ^ Huddleston and Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p.629. For more detail on the fallaciousness of this example as a claimed demonstration of the silliness of a (silly) rule, see Pullum, "A Churchill story up with which I will no longer put (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001702.html) ". 12. ^ Pinker, Steven (2000). The language instinct: how the mind creates language . p. 89. ISBN 84-206-6732-3. 13. ^ Kutas, M; Hillyard, SA (1980). "Reading senseless sentences: brain potentials reflect semantic incongruity". Science 207 (4427): 203205. DOI:10.1126/science.7350657 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.7350657) . PMID 7350657 (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7350657) . 14. ^ Valentine, J.R. Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar. University of Toronto Press. 2001. 15. ^ I.Reed et al: A Select Collection of Old Plays (vol 2), 1825 16. ^ Notes and Queries, July 18, 1868 17. ^ """ (Do all foreigners learning Chinese start with 'm!ma q m", m" mn, m!ma m m"'?)" (http://tieba.baidu.com/f? ct=335675392&tn=baiduPostBrowser&sc=8745192375&z=814581286#8745192375) . Baidu Tieba (Baidu forums). 2010.07.01. http://tieba.baidu.com/f? ct=335675392&tn=baiduPostBrowser&sc=8745192375&z=814581286#8745192375. Retrieved 2010-09-27.

External links
The Trouble with NLP (http://specgram.com/CLIII.4/08.phlogiston.cartoon.zhe.html) : Some additional demonstrations of why these and similar examples are hard for computers to deal with when attempting natural language processing. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_linguistic_example_sentences&oldid=495859301" Categories: Linguistics lists Grammar This page was last modified on 4 June 2012 at 00:38. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

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