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Syntax and Constituent Structure

Syntax analyzes how words combine to form sentences. Sentences have a hierarchical structure made up of successively smaller linguistic units called constituents. Constituents make up larger units called constructions. For example, in the sentence "Some people collect old Australian stamps as a hobby", the constituents include "some", "people", etc. and the constructions include "some people" and "collect old Australian stamps as a hobby". There are tests for identifying constituents, such as substitution (replacing the sequence with a single word) and movement (moving the sequence to a new position in the sentence).

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421 views3 pages

Syntax and Constituent Structure

Syntax analyzes how words combine to form sentences. Sentences have a hierarchical structure made up of successively smaller linguistic units called constituents. Constituents make up larger units called constructions. For example, in the sentence "Some people collect old Australian stamps as a hobby", the constituents include "some", "people", etc. and the constructions include "some people" and "collect old Australian stamps as a hobby". There are tests for identifying constituents, such as substitution (replacing the sequence with a single word) and movement (moving the sequence to a new position in the sentence).

Uploaded by

Uzma Shaukat
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Syntax and Constituent Structure

Syntax is concerned with how words combine to form sentences.


Sentences have a hierarchical structure, with the larger units
consisting of successively smaller units. Thus, we can analyse
the sentence ‘Some people collect old Australian stamps as a
hobby.’ in the form of a ‘tree diagram’:

Constituent
Each unit that is at the end of a line, or ‘branch’, and thus is part
of a higher unit is called a constituent; so there are 14 phrase
and word constituents:
some people, collect old Australian stamps as a hobby, old
Australian stamps, as a hobby, a hobby, some, people, collect,
old, Australian, stamps, as, a and hobby.
Construction
For example, some and people are constituents of the
construction some people. In the tree diagram above there are
six constructions: some people collect old Australian stamps as
a hobby, some people, collect old Australian stamps as a hobby,
old Australian stamps, as a hobby and a hobby.

Thus, constituents make up constructions and constructions are


made up of constituents. The topmost unit, the whole sentence,
can only be a construction and not a constituent since it is not a
part of a higher grammatical unit, and that the bottom-most units
can only be constituents. Some people will be both a constituent
and a construction: it is a constituent of the sentence and it is
also a construction since it is made up of the constituents some
and people.

Immediate constituent.
The immediate constituents of a construction are those that are
directly below it in the hierarchy. For example, as and a hobby
are the immediate constituents of as a hobby. a and hobby are
the immediate constituents of a hobby.

How to analyze a sentence into its constituent?

There are a couple of rules.

1. Substitution
If a sequence of words can be substituted by a single word, then
it can generally be assumed that the sequence is a constituent.
For instance, some people can be substituted by a single word
such as they (They collect old Australian stamps as a hobby). It
is possible to apply a similar test to confirm the status of collect
old Australian stamps as a hobby as a constituent. If someone
asks, Is it really true that they collect old Australian stamps as a
hobby?, the reply can be, They do!, then do would be a
substitute for the constituent collect old Australian stamps as a
hobby.

2. Movement

The possibility of moving a constituent to another position is a


second test for constituency. Thus there is evidence for the
status of old Australian stamps as a constituent in the fact that it
can be moved to another position as in What they collect is old
Australian stamps.
‘in late July’ is a constituent of the sentence Aunt arrived in
late July. This part can be moved as in In late July Aunt arrived.
Again, we can confirm the status of the American stock market
as a constituent of The American stock market is very robust, by
comparing it with Is the American stock market very robust?

Ambiguous sentences can also be explained with the help of


constituents.

They are French history students

This sentence can mean (a) ‘They are students of French


history’, where French history and students are constituents and
(b) ‘They are history students of French nationality’, where
French and history students are constituents.

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