Syntax Vocabulary Flashcards
syntax
the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language
grammar
the system and structure of a language (syntax is a part of this)
constituents
a word or a group of words that function as a single unit within a hierarchical structure
phrases
a group of words that act together as a grammatical unit
pronominalization
the substitute of a constituent by a pronoun
pro-form
a type of function word or expression that stands in for another word, phrase, clause, or sentence where the meaning is recoverable from the context
wh-pronoun
who, whose, whom, which, what, that
movement
the means by which some theories of syntax address discontinuities
coordination test
one of the traditional diagnostic tests for constituent structure
gapping
a type of ellipsis that occurs in the non-initial conjuncts of coordinate structures
sentence-fragment test
a test showing that a string of words that can be a sentence fragment must be a constituent
structural ambiguity
the potential of multiple interpretations for a piece of written or spoken language because of the way words or phrases are organized
head
in linguistics, the head or nucleus of a phrase is the word that determines the syntactic category of that phrase
noun phrases
a noun plus optional determinants, adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases
prepositional phrases
begins with a preposition and ends with a noun
adjective phrases
phrase the head of which is an adjective
verb phrases
a syntactic unit consisting of an auxiliary (helping) verb preceding the main verb
adverb phrases
a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences
projections
the categorical representation of the lexical structure that must be at every syntactic level
parts-of-speech
a category of words that have similar grammatical properties
determiners
a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and serves to express the reference of that noun or a noun phrase in the context
phrase-structure rules
a type of rewrite rule used to describe a given language’s syntax
subordinate clauses
A clause containing a subject and verb that begins with a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun
clause
a syntactic construction containing a subject and predicate and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence
sentence
a set of words that is complete in itself, typically containing a subject and predicate, conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command, and consisting of a main clause and sometimes one or more subordinate clauses
main clause
a clause that can form a complete sentence standing alone
predicate
the part of a sentence or clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject
subject-verb agreement
the rule stating that if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural
case
any of the inflected forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence
transitive
a verb that accepts one or more objects
intransitive
a verb that does not take an object
ditransitive
takes both a direct object and an indirect object
direct object
the noun or a noun phrase that’s receiving the action of the verb
indirect object
the optional recipient of a verb in a sentence
adverbial (or adjunct)
constituents that provide information about the circumstances of the action denoted by the verb and its subjects and object(s)
complement
a word, phrase, or clause that is necessary to complete the meaning of a given expression
predicative complements
completes the meaning of a sentence by giving information about a noun
matrix clause
a clause that contains a subordinate clause
subject
the something or someone that the sentence is about
semantics
how one’s lexicon, grammatical structure, tone, and other elements of a sentence coalesce to communicate its meaning
