List of linguistic example sentences

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Contents 1 Independence 1.1 Independence of syntax 2 Ambiguity 2.1 Lexical ambiguity 2.2 Syntactic ambiguity 2.3 Syntactic ambiguity and incrementality 2.4 Semantic scope ambiguity and anaphora resolution 2.5 Embedding 3 Word order 3.1 Order of adjectives 3.2 Paraprosdokian 3.3 Syllepsis 3.4 Ending sentence with preposition 3.4.1 Avoidance 3.4.2 Extreme non-avoidance 4 Parallels 4.1 Parallel between noun phrases and verb phrases with respect to argument structure 5 Neurolinguistic examples 5.1 N400 6 Combinatorial complexity 7 Non-English examples 7.1 German 7.2 Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian 7.3 Northeastern Scots 7.4 Finnish 7.5 Spanish 7.6 Dutch 7.7 French 7.8 Icelandic 7.9 Italian 7.10 Swedish 7.11 Japanese 7.12 Malay 7.13 Romanian 7.14 Russian 7.15 Hebrew 7.16 Hungarian 7.17 Estonian 7.18 Mandarin Chinese 7.19 Tagalog 7.20 Portuguese 7.21 Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

This is a list of linguistic example sentences. They illustrate various linguistic phenomena.

Independence

Independence of syntax

Demonstrations of the independence of syntax and meaning, such that a sentence may be syntactically valid but meaningless.

• Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. (Noam Chomsky)

Ambiguity

Different types of ambiguity which are possible in language.

Lexical ambiguity

Demonstrations of words which have multiple meanings dependent on context.

• Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
• Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
• Rose rose to put rose rose on her rows of roses. (Robert J. Baran)
• 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!
• For my sign, please put more room between the Smith and and and and and Sons. ("The 'Smith' and 'and,' and 'and' and 'Sons'.)
• If the police police police police, who polices the police police? Police police police police police police.^[2]
• It was and I said not are and and and are are different. ("It was 'and', I said, not 'are,' and 'and' and 'are' are different.")
• But and and and and and and and and and so are all pairs of conjuctions. ("But and and, and, and and and, and, and and so, are pairs of conjunctions.)

• 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.
• We saw her duck.^[4]
• They are hunting dogs.
• The criminal experienced a seizure.
• Police help dog bite victim.
• While the man was hunting the deer ran through the forest.^[5]

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.

Semantic scope ambiguity and anaphora resolution

• Every farmer who owns a donkey beats it.^[6]

Embedding

• The rat the cat the dog bit chased escaped.^[7]

Word order

Order of adjectives

• The red big balloon.

Paraprosdokian

• I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long. (Mitch Hedberg)
• Silence is golden, duct tape is silver.

Syllepsis

• He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men. (Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried)
• We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)
• She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes and his hopes. (Michael Flanders, Have Some Madeira M'Dear)

Ending sentence with preposition

Prescriptive grammar usually prohibits ending sentences with prepositions, but the alternatives are often awkward or infelicitous.

Avoidance

• This is the sort of English up with which I will not put. (Attributed by Gowers to Winston Churchill^[8])
• Throw your father down the stairs his hat.
• Throw the baby out the window a piece of bread.

Extreme non-avoidance

• The little girl says to her father, "What did you bring that book that I did not want to be read to out of up for?"
• What did you turn your socks from inside out to outside in for?

Parallels

Parallel between noun phrases and verb phrases with respect to argument structure

• The enemy destroyed the city.
• The enemy's destruction of the city.

Neurolinguistic examples

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2009)

N400

• She spread the bread with socks.^[9]

Combinatorial complexity

Demonstrations of sentences which are unlikely to have ever been said, although the combinatorial complexity of the linguistic system makes them possible.

• Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers. (Stephen Fry)

Non-English examples

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Examples need to include explanations of what linguistic phenomenon they illustrate, like the English examples do. Please improve this section if you can. (September 2009)

German

• Die Männer, die vor dem Schokoladenladen Laden laden, laden Ladenmädchen zum Tanzen ein, meaning "The men, who loaded chests in front of the chocolate shop, asked shop girls for a dance".
• Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher, meaning "When flies fly behind flies, flies fly after flies".
• Wenn hinter Rumkugeln Rumkugeln rumkugeln, kugeln hinter Rumkugeln Rumkugeln rum, meaning "When rum truffles roll around behind rum truffles, rum truffles roll around behind rum-truffles".
• Wenn Albert albert, ruht Ruth. Wenn Albert ruht, albert Ruth, meaning "When Albert fools about, Ruth reposes. When Albert reposes, Ruth fools about.".
• Selten ess' ich Essig. Ess' ich Essig, ess' ich Essig zum Salat, meaning "Rarely I eat vinegar. [When] I eat vinegar, I eat vinegar on salad.", phonetically Essig (vinegar) and Ess' ich (I eat) sound the same (/ˈɛsɪç/).

Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian

• Bar barbarbarbarbar bar bar barbarbarbarbar, meaning "naked barbarian-bar-barbarian [barbarian usually hanging out in bars for barbarians] carried naked barbarian-bar-barbarian."
• Når graver Graver graver grave, graver graver Graver grave for andre, meaning "When digger Graver [his name is Graver] digs graves, digger Graver digs graves for others."

Northeastern Scots

• "Fit fit fits fit ski", meaning "Which foot fits which Ski."

Finnish

• Kokko, kokoo kokoon koko kokko! Koko kokkoko? Koko kokko., meaning "Kokko (a surname), gather up a full bonfire! A full bonfire? A full bonfire."
• Vihdoin vihdoin vihdoin, meaning "Finally I was bathing in a sauna with a bunch of birch branchs".
• Etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät etsivät, meaning "The searching detectives are searching the searching detectives".
• Piilevät piilevät piilevät, meaning "The hiding diatoms are hiding".
• Katos katos katos katos, "Look out, the shed disappeared on the roof".
• Hae lakkaa satamasta kun lakkaa satamasta, "Get varnish from the harbor when it ceases raining".

Spanish

• ¿Cómo como? ¿Cómo cómo como? Como como como, meaning "How do I eat? What do you mean, how do I eat? I eat how I eat".
• El vino vino, pero no vino vino, vino vinagre., meaning "The wine came, but it didn't come as wine, it came as vinegar."

Dutch

• Als achter vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna, meaning "If flies fly behind flies, then those flies are flying behind flies".
• Als achter vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegen vliegensvlug, meaning "If flies fly behind flies, then those flies are flying as fast as a fly".
• Als Graven Graven graven graven graven Graven Graven graven, meaning "When counts dig graves for other counts, counts are digging graves for other counts".
• Als bergen bergen bergen bergen bergen, bergen bergen bergen bergen bergen., meaning "When loads of mountains store loads of (other) mountains, then loads of mountains store loads of mountains."
• Voor was was was was was is, meaning "Before (the word) was was (the word) was, (the word) was was (the word) is".
• Van alle zagen die wij ooit zagen zagen zagen zagen wij nog nooit zo zagen zagen zoals wij onze zagen zagen zagen zagen, meaning "Of all saws that ever we observed sawing saws, we never observed saws sawing saws like we observed our own saws sawing saws".
• Wat Kan kan kan Kan alleen, meaning "Whatever Kan could do, only Kan could do".

French

• Si ton tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tondu, meaning "If your uncle shears your uncle, your uncle'll be shorn".
• Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cent scies scient six cent cyprès, meaning "If six saws saw six cypresses, six hundred saws saw six hundred cypresses".
• Natasha n'attacha pas son chat Pasha qui s'échappa, meaning "Natasha did not tie up her cat, Pasha, who escaped."

Icelandic

• Ái á Á á á í á, meaning "A farmer named Ái who lives on a farm by the name of Á, owns a female sheep that is in a river".

Italian

• "Chi ara mente"? Chiaramente, Chiara mente (meaning "'Who plows lies?' Clearly, Chiara lies").

Swedish

• Farfar, får får får? Nej, sonson, får får inte får, får får lamm. meaning, "Grandfather, may sheep give birth to sheep? No, grandson, sheep may not give birth to sheep, sheep may give birth to lambs."

Japanese

• Buta wo butta no wa buta. Butareta buta ga butta buta wo butta. (豚をぶったのは豚。ぶたれた豚がぶった豚をぶった。) meaning "What hit the pig was a pig. The pig that was hit hit the pig that hit it."
• Shikashi, kashi ka shika shika shikaranakatta. (しかし、菓子か鹿しか叱らなかった。) meaning "However, I didn't scold anyone but the deer or the pastries."
• Sumomo mo, momo mo, momo no uchi. (李も桃も桃のうち。)　meaning "The tart plum and the peach are both part of the peach family."

Malay

• Sayang, sayang sayang sayang, sayang sayang sayang? meaning "Darling, I love you dear, do you love me?"

Romanian

• Stanca sta-n castan ca Stan, meaning "(The girl named) Stanca stood in a chestnut tree like (the boy named) Stan".

Russian

• Косил косой косой косой косой косой, meaning "A drunk cross-eyed hare was mowing grass with a curved scythe".
• Косил косой косой косой косой на косой косой косой косой с косой косой косой косой косую косу, meaning "A drunk cross-eyed curved hare astride a drunk cross-eyed curved doe-hare with curved plait was mowing grass on curved spit with a curved scythe".
• Проворонила вороная ворона вороного воронёнка, meaning "The black crow letted the black fledgeling of the crow".

Hebrew

• אשה נעלה נעלה נעלה נעלה את הדלת בפני בעלה, meaning "an exalted woman had put on her shoe and locked the door from her husband".

Hungarian

• A követ követ követ, meaning "The envoy follows a stone".

Estonian

• Vahetevahel on vahede vahel vahed vahel, "Sometimes there are breaks between cracks"

Mandarin Chinese

• Mǎ māma qí mǎ. Mǎ màn má. Mǎ māma mà mǎ ma?, written as "馬媽媽騎馬. 馬慢嘛. 馬媽媽罵馬嗎?" (simplified Chinese: 马妈妈骑马。马慢嘛。马妈妈骂马吗？), means "Mother Ma (a surname) rides a horse. The horse is slow, obviously. Does Mother Ma scold the horse?"

• 下雨天留客天留我不留 comes from a story involving a clever guest and his tight-fisted host. The sentence can be punctuated as either 下雨,天留客.天留,我不留! which means "It rains, the sky detains the guest. The sky keeps him, I don't!" from the host's perspective, OR it can be punctuated as 下雨天,留客天,留我不?留! meaning "Day of rain, day of keeping guests. Keep me or not? Keep." from the guest's perspective.

Tagalog

• Bababa ba? Bababa!, meaning "(Is it) going down? It is!"

Portuguese

• Claramente, Clara mente com clara mente, meaning "Obviously, Clara (female name) lies with her clear mind (lucid)".

• Como como? Como "como como"? Como como como!, meaning "How do I eat? What do you mean, how do I eat? I eat how I eat".

• O tempo perguntou ao tempo quanto tempo o tempo tem. O tempo respondeu ao tempo que o tempo tem tanto tempo quanto tempo o tempo tem. meaning "The weather asked time: how much time does Time has. Time answered to the weather that Time has as much time as time needs to have".

• O papá do Papa papa a papa do Papa, meaning "The dad of the Pope eats the food of the Pope"

• A Rosa deu à Rosa a rosa rosa meaning "Rosa (female name) gave to other Rosa the pink rose."

• A Mami mama da mama da mamã que não mama da mama da mamã meaning "Mami (female name) sucks on the breast of the mother that doesn't suck on the breast of her mother anymore".

Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe

• Gdaa-naanaanaa, Aanaa, naa?, meaning "We should fetch Anna, shouldn't we?".^[10]

See also

• Garden path sentence, a sentence that illustrates that humans process language one word at a time
• Gradient well-formedness
• Grammaticality
• Paraprosdokian, a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe the first part

References

1. ^ 3802 - Operator Jumble
2. ^ Hans-Martin Gärtner, Generalized Transformations and Beyond, p58, Akademie Verlag, 2002. Retrieved online 6th October 2008.
3. ^ Martin Gardner, Aha! Gotcha, p.141. Mathematical Assn. of Am. 2006 (1982). Google Book Search. Retrieved on December 12, 2009.
4. ^ Solutions to Semantics Problems
5. ^ Thematic Roles Along the Garden Path Linger
6. ^ archive of CSI 5386 Donkey Sentence Discussion
7. ^ Kimball, John (1973). "Seven principles of surface structure parsing in natural language". Cognition 2: 15–47. 
8. ^ Discussed at Wikiquote
9. ^ Kutas, M; Hillyard, SA (1980). "Reading senseless sentences: brain potentials reflect semantic incongruity". Science 207 (4427). 
10. ^ Valentine, J.R. Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar. University of Toronto Press. 2001.

External links

• The Trouble with NLP: Some additional demonstrations of why these and similar examples are hard for computers to deal with when attempting natural language processing.