http://glottopedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=ConstituentConstituent - Revision history2026-04-22T23:04:10ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.34.2http://glottopedia.org/index.php?title=Constituent&diff=6115&oldid=prevLuo: from Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics2008-05-14T13:21:58Z<p>from Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>In generative syntax, a '''constituent''' is a notion in the syntactic description of linguistic expressions. <br />
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A constituent of an expression is any part of the expression that, linguistically, functions as a unit. In terms of [[tree structure]], a constituent can be defined as a subtree, or as the material dominated by a single node. <br />
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In terms of [[labeled bracketing]], the material enclosed by a matching pair of brackets is a constituent. <br />
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===Examples===<br />
Each of the bracketed strings in (i) is a constituent:<br />
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(i) ''[<sub>1</sub> John [<sub>2</sub> left [<sub>3</sub> his [<sub>4</sub> pet chihuahua <sub>4</sub>] <sub>3</sub>] [<sub>5</sub> to [[<sub>6</sub> his mother [<sub>6</sub>] [<sub>5</sub>] <sub>2</sub>] <sub>1</sub>]''<br />
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Various tests can be employed to establish whether a given part of an expression is a constituent. One well-known test is used in (ii);<br />
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(ii) <br />
a to his mother, John left his pet chihuahua<br />
b his pet chihuahua, John left to his mother<br />
c * his pet chihuahua to his mother, John left <br />
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===Comment===<br />
Assuming that [[topicalization]] allows the preposing of exactly one constituent, the well-formedness of (ii)a & b indicates that the italicized strings are constituents; the illformedness of (ii)c can be attributed to the fact that the direct object and the indirect object do not form a constituent. A stricter version of the notion constituent holds that only those subtrees that are maximal projections are called constituents. <br />
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===Synonym===<br />
[[phrase]]<br />
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===Link===<br />
[http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Constituent&lemmacode=923 Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics] <br />
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[[Category:Syntax]]</div>Luo