Describe Chomsky's conceptualization of the relationship between syntactical and lexical structures

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Chomsky addressed how syntactical structures may interact with words (lexical structures). He suggested that our mental lexicon contains more than the semantic meanings attached to each word (or morpheme). In addition, each lexical item also contains syntactical information. This syntactical information for each lexical item indicates three things:
• The syntactical category of the item, such as noun versus verb;
• The appropriate syntactical contexts in which the particular morpheme may be used, such as pronouns as subjects versus as direct objects; and
• Idiosyncratic information about the syntactical uses of the morpheme, such as the treatment of irregular verbs.

How do we link the elements in our mental lexicon to the elements in our syntactical structures? Various models for such bridging have been proposed. According to some of these models, when we parse sentences by syntactical categories, we create slots for each item in the sentence. Consider, for example, the sentence, "Juan gave María the book from the shelf.". There is a slot for a noun used as (1) a subject (Juan), (2) a direct object (the book), (3) an indirect object (María), and (4) objects of prepositions (the shelf).

There are also slots for the verb, the preposition, and the articles. In turn, lexical items contain information regarding the kinds of slots into which the items can be placed. The information is based on the kinds of thematic roles the items can fill. Thematic roles are ways in which items can be used in the context of communication. Several roles have been identified. In particular, these roles are as follows:
• The agent, the "doer" of any action
• The patient, the direct recipient of the action
• The beneficiary, the indirect recipient of the action
• The instrument, the means by which the action is implemented
• The location, the place where the action occurs
• The source, where the action originated
• The goal, where the action is going

According to this view of how syntax and semantics are linked, the various syntactical slots can be filled by lexical entries with corresponding thematic roles. For example, the slot of subject noun might be filled by the thematic role of agent. Nouns that can fill agent roles can be inserted into slots for subjects of phrases. Patient roles correspond to slots for direct objects. Beneficiary roles fit with indirect objects, and so on.