Syntax
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*the structure can be predicted by rules (i.e., the structure is regular), which consist the grammar of the language. | *the structure can be predicted by rules (i.e., the structure is regular), which consist the grammar of the language. | ||
For instance, the sentence: | For instance, the sentence: | ||
| − | <blockquote>''the | + | <blockquote>''they killed the man with a gun''</blockquote> |
| − | is more productively represented as ( | + | is more productively represented as (1a) or (1b) than (2) |
{|align=center cellpadding=10 cellspacing=10 | {|align=center cellpadding=10 cellspacing=10 | ||
|- | |- | ||
|align=center|[[file:syntax.jpg]] | |align=center|[[file:syntax.jpg]] | ||
| − | |align=center|[the][ ][dog][ ][ate][ ][the][ ][bone] | + | |align=center|'''[the][ ][dog][ ][ate][ ][the][ ][bone]''' |
|- | |- | ||
|align=center|(1) | |align=center|(1) | ||
Revision as of 20:23, 13 August 2013
In Linguistics, syntax is "the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages"[1]. It assumes that:
- natural language sentences can be broken down into components (the so-called syntactic constituents);
- the resulting structure (i.e., the relations between syntactic constituents) is hierarchical (a tree-like structure) rather than a simple list; and
- the structure can be predicted by rules (i.e., the structure is regular), which consist the grammar of the language.
For instance, the sentence:
they killed the man with a gun
is more productively represented as (1a) or (1b) than (2)
| File:Syntax.jpg | [the][ ][dog][ ][ate][ ][the][ ][bone] |
| (1) | (2) |
Notes
- ↑ Chomsky, Noam. [1957]. Syntactic Structures. p. 11.
