SENTENCE STRUCTURE: CONSTITUENTS AND FUNCTIONS

Junnie Salud

December 10, 2011

University of Santo Tomas Graduate School

STRUCTURE is fundamental to the

study of syntax.

a. it is divisible into parts (called CONSTITUENTS);

b. there are different kinds of parts (called CATEGORIES);

c. the constituents are ARRANGED in a specifiable way;

d. that each constituent has a certain specifiable FUNCTION in the structure of the thing as a whole.

COMPLEX

When anything can be analysed in this way, we say that it has STRUCTURE.

The constituents of a complex thing are

themselves complex.

The parts themselvesconsist of parts whichmay in turn consist of

further parts.

IMAGINE ALL THE POSSIBLE OBJECTS YOU COULD CONSTRUCT BY FIXING THESE COMPONENTS TOGETHER…

ILL-FORMED (UNGRAMMATICAL)

1.) The nevertheless procrastinate foxtrot.2.) And and if.3.) Disappears none girls of the students.4.) Put Mary.5.) Max will bought a frying pans.

A full syntactic description of the English Language consists in explaining why some strings of words of the language are well-formed expressions and why others are not.

Bicycle

wheel

wheelframe chain

handlebars

…

a constituent (part) of a bicycle.

Bicycle Wheel

Bicycle Spoke

Bicycle[3a]

wheelspokespoke

Bicycle[3b]

wheel

spoke spoke

…

…

Tree-Diagram

Syntactic Structure

analysing linguistic expressions into their

constituent parts, identifying the categories of those

constituents, and determining their functions.

SENTENCES

*What do sentences consist of?

-WORDS

Old Sam sunbathedbeside a stream

[4]

SENTENCEold Sam sunbathed beside a stream

[5]

[6]

*Stream old Sam sunbathed beside a

[7]

*Sunbathed old beside stream a Sam

ESTABLISHING CONSTITUENTS

[4][5] OLD SAM SUNBATHED BESIDE A STREAM.

[10] Old Sam sunbathed beside a [11] Old Sam sunbathed beside [12] Old Sam sunbathed [13] Old Sam [14] Old

[15] Martha smiled. [16] Martha smiled invitingly.

PHRASES

Sequences of words that can function as constituents (parts) in the structure of sentences.

Since our tree diagrams are intended to represent structure by marking which sequences of words in a sentence are its constituent phrases, such diagrams are called PHRASE-MARKERS.

BESIDE A STREAM = a constituent of sentence [4]. = a phrase.

[17] The very muscular gentleman next to me lit a cigar.

[18] The (…) gentleman next to me lit a cigar. [19] The very muscular gentleman (…) lit a cigar. [20] The (…) gentleman (…) lit a cigar.

Very muscular [18] [19] Next to me [19] [20] ***PHRASES which are OPTIONAL constituents (parts) in

the structure of sentence [17].

*If a sequence of words can be omitted from a sentence leaving another good sentence, this is a good indication that the sequence is a phrase functioning as a constituent in the structure of the sentence. However, not all phrases are omissible.

EXAMPLE (SENTENCE [16] )

Martha smiled invitingly.

INVITINGLY was a constituent in [16].

*If you can replace a sequence of words in a sentence with a single word without changing the overall structure of the sentence, then that sequence functions as a constituent of the sentence and is therefore a phrase.

“Beside a stream” is functioning as a constituent in [4] OLD SAM SUNBATHED BESIDE A STREAM.

[25a]

PHRASE

beside a

stream

[25b]

PHRASE

beside

PHRASE

a stream

[25c]PHRASE

PHRASE

streambeside a

Which do you think is the best representation of thestructure of the phrase?

25a 25b 25c

[33] SAM SUNBATHED BESIDE A STREAM THAT HAD DRIED UP.

[34]

PHRASE-a

beside PHRASE-b

a stream that haddried up

[35]PHRASE-a

PHRASE-b PHRASE-c

beside a stream that had dried up

LET US TRY!!!A

B C

D E

a b c d

F

g he f

In tree-diagram above, what are the immediate constituents of: 1.) A? 2.) B? 3.) C?

Draw a phrase-marker for the phrase: their rather dubious jokes.Showing that it contains further phrase: rather dubious jokes, which in turn contains rather dubious as a phrase.

Draw a phrase-marker for the phrase:

Men from the Ministry

Showing that it contains further phrase:

from the ministry, which in turn contains the phrase: the ministry.

SUBJECT AND PREDICATE

[1] Ducks paddle. SENTENCE

The ducks are paddling away.

[The ducks] [are paddling away.]

Sentence Structure: Functions

ducks paddle

[5] [Those gigantic ducks] [were paddling away furiously]. [6] [The mouth-watering duck on the table] [won’t be

paddling away again].

The sentences were divided into two divisions 1.) Subject and 2.) Predicate.

Turn the sentence into a question that can be answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

[7] Are [the ducks] paddling away?

[8] Were [those gigantic ducks] paddling away furiously?

[9] Won’t [the mouth-watering duck on the table] be paddling away again?

The question movement test is important because it is actually part of the definition of what a ‘subject’ is that it changes its position in such questions.

[10] It is snowing again. [11] Is [it] snowing again?

Identify the subjects of the following sentences: [12] Some nasty accident could have occurred. [13] The clown in the make-up room doesn’t want to

perform. [14] Elizabeth and Leicester are rowing on the river. [15] None of her attempts to give up chocolate were

really serious. [16] As a matter of fact, the man you paid to do it

has been arrested.

NOUN PHRASE AND VERB PHRASE

All the subjects we have looked at have one thing in common: they all contain, and are centered on, the same CATEGORY of word, which is a NOUN.

They are all NOUN PHRASE. Any phrase that can function as a subject is a Noun

Phrase.

The phrases functioning as PREDICATES, on the other hand, all contain, and are centered on, a VERB.

They are all VERB PHRASE.

*Chiropodist- is a foot doctor @_@

[25] The chiropodist fell in love with most of his patients.

[32] The pianist has rejected the chiropodist.

The ducks are paddling awayS

NP VP

The ducks are paddling away.

Try with sentence [32]: THE PIANIST HAS REJECTED THE CHIROPODIST.

DEPENDENCY AND FUNCTION

When two constituent nodes are immediately dominated by the same single node, as is the case with B and C in [35], they are said to be sisters.

[35] A

B C

B and C are also daughters of A.

A, the node that immediately dominates them.

MODIFIER AND HEAD

PHRASE-a

theirPHRASE-b

PHRASE-c jokes

rather dubious

There are three sister relationships: 1.) their and PHRASE-b, 2.) PHRASE-c and jokes, 3.) rather and dubious.

Rather depends on dubious but not vice versa. This function is called MODIFICATION.

HEAD AND COMPLEMENT

PHRASE-a

besidePHRASE-b

a stream

HOW MANY SISTER RELATIONSHIPS ARE THERE IN THE PHRASE?

BESIDE is the head of the phrase

BESIDE demands a following phrase like “a stream.”

When a head demands a further expression in this way, that other obligatory expression is said to be COPLEMENT.

Complements typically follow their heads in English

IDENTIFY THE SUBJECTS AND PREDICATES OF THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES:

a. Her memory for names and dates was a constant source of amazement to him.

b. The prune fritters left something to be desired.

c. There are too many uninvited guests here. d. Only six of the thirty domino-toppling

contestants came properly equipped. e. It was Lydia who finally trapped the pig. f. The fact that you received no birthday

greetings from Mars doesn’t mean that it is uninhabited.

g. In the machine, the gremlin could be heard juggling with ball-bearings.

Thank You for Listening!

@_@