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Understanding Sentence Structures

The document discusses the structure of phrases in sentences. It notes that words have both a linear order and a hierarchical structure of constituents. Sentences can be broken down into their largest constituents, which can then be further divided into smaller constituents and individual words. The internal organization of words in a sentence is represented by a phrase structure tree, which shows how words are organized into phrases and how phrases are related within the sentence.

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Nelson Aminosse Zavale
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331 views2 pages

Understanding Sentence Structures

The document discusses the structure of phrases in sentences. It notes that words have both a linear order and a hierarchical structure of constituents. Sentences can be broken down into their largest constituents, which can then be further divided into smaller constituents and individual words. The internal organization of words in a sentence is represented by a phrase structure tree, which shows how words are organized into phrases and how phrases are related within the sentence.

Uploaded by

Nelson Aminosse Zavale
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Phrase Structures

1. Linear ordering of constituents

 words of any sentence occur in a particular order


 words in sentence constituents follow a strict order

the child found the puppy

 constituents of a sentence also follow a strict order

The child found the puppy.


The puppy found the child.

 word order is an essential part of sentence structure

2. Hierarchical ordering of constituents

 besides their obvious linear order, words in a sentence have a constituent


structure that is not so obvious but is understood by speakers of a language

(He) (sold the car to his brother in New York).


(sold the car) (to his brother in New York)

 we can view sentences as being made up, first, of their largest constituents

(the child) (found the puppy) (in the garden)

 these large constituents can then be analyzed into smaller

(the child)  (the) (child)


(found the puppy)  (found) (the puppy)
(in the garden)  (in) (the garden)

 these smaller units can be further analyzed into the constituent words

(the puppy)  (the) (puppy)


(the garden)  (the) (garden)

1
3. The syntactic structure of a sentence

 the internal organization of a linear string of words is called its constituent


structure or its phrase structure

 the phrase structure of a sentence is represented by a phrase structure tree

 the phrase structure tree shows that a sentence is both a linear string of
words and a hierarchical structure with phrases nested in phrases

found the puppy in the garden  (found) (the puppy) (in the garden)
in the garden  (in) (the garden)

 the phrase structure tree displays

o how words are organized into phrases, and


o how phrases are related to one another in the sentence

the child found the puppy

the child found the puppy

the puppy

 the phrase structure trees are graphic representations of our


knowledge of the sentence structure in our native language

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