http://glottopedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Phrase_structurePhrase structure - Revision history2026-04-22T00:32:08ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.34.2http://glottopedia.org/index.php?title=Phrase_structure&diff=8367&oldid=prevWohlgemuth: utrecht2009-02-19T21:00:30Z<p>utrecht</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>'''Phrase structure''' is the internal structure of a [[phrase]] and its [[constituent]]s. Phrase structure is represented in one of the following formats: by means of a [[tree structure]] or by means of [[labeled brackets]].<br />
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=== Example ===<br />
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sentence (i) might have the phrase structure in (ii):<br />
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(i) Bill will meet his elder brother at the bus station<br />
(ii) IP<br />
/ |<br />
/ |<br />
NP I'<br />
| | \<br />
N | \<br />
| INFL<br />
Bill | \<br />
will \<br />
VP<br />
/ |------\<br />
V | \<br />
| PP<br />
meet | | \<br />
NP P NP<br />
/ | \ | |\<br />
Det AP N at | \<br />
| | | Det N<br />
his A brother | |<br />
| the bus station<br />
elder<br />
<br />
The structure in (ii) shows that the string ''his elder brother'' is a syntactic constituent which is a [[NP|Noun Phrase]] (NP) whose [[head]] is the [[Noun]] (N) ''brother''. This [[head]] is preceded by an [[AP|Adjectival Phrase]] (AP) ''elder'', whose head is the [[adjective]] (A) ''elder''. The constituent ''at the bus station'' is a [[PP|Prepositional Phrase]] (PP); the head of this PP is the [[preposition]] (P) ''at'' which is followed by the NP ''the bus station''. The constituent ''meet his elder brother at the bus station'' is a [[VP|Verbal Phrase]] or VP, which is headed by the [[verb]] (V) ''meet'', followed by two constituents: the NP ''his elder brother'' and the PP ''at the bus station''. The whole sentence is construed as an [[IP|Inflectional Phrase]] or IP, the head of which is [[INFL]]ection), here filled with the [[auxiliary]] ''will''. INFL is followed by one constituent, the VP ''meet his elder brother at the bus station'', and preceded by one constituent, the NP ''Bill''. The tree structure in (ii) is equivalent to the labelled bracketing in (iii).<br />
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(iii) [<sub>IP</sub> [<sub>NP</sub> [<sub>N</sub> Bill] ] [<sub>I'</sub>[<sub>INFL</sub> will] [<sub>VP</sub> [<sub>V</sub> meet] [<sub>NP</sub>[<sub>Det</sub> his]<br />
[<sub>AP</sub>[<sub>A</sub> elder]] [<sub>N</sub> brother]] [<sub>PP</sub>[<sub>P</sub> at] [<sub>NP</sub>[<sub>Det</sub> the] [<sub>N</sub> bus station]]]]]]<br />
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See also [[X-bar theory]].<br />
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=== Links ===<br />
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[http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Phrase+structure&lemmacode=404 Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics]<br />
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{{dc}}<br />
[[Category:Syntax]]</div>Wohlgemuth