Immediate Constituent Analysis

Phrases

Immediate Constituent Analysis

NP → Det A N

Adverbial

His old leather purse

NP

det. Adj. N

poss.

his old purse

NP → Det N PP

NP → Det N

What are phrases?

The pen on the table

NP

NP PP

det. N Prep. NP

Art. det. N

Art.

the pen on the table

Her play

NP

det. N

poss.

her play

A phrase contains:

Noun phrase-structure rules

• An adverbial (also called adverb phrase) is a syntactic unit which consists of an adverb and all the words and word groups that cluster around the adverb and add to its meaning.
• It generally specifies time, place, manner, reason, etc., and modifies a verb, an adjective or fellow adverb.

• Headword - one word which is more important than the others
• Modifier - some other single-word or word group elements that specify, modify or complete the headword in various ways.
• Specifiers/premodifiers - placed in front of the headword or
• Postmodifiers/complements - placed after the headword.

1. NP → N (NP consists of N)

2. NP → Det N (NP consists of Det + N)

3. NP → Det N PP

(NP consists of Det + N + PP)

4. NP → Det A N

(NP consists of Det + A + N)

5. NP → (Det) (A) N (PP)

• A phrase can be considered the lowest syntactic unit.
• It can be defined as a syntactic unit that contains more than one word and lacks the subject-predicate relationship.

Noun Phrase (NP)

Noun Modifiers

PP → PREP NP

A noun phrase is a syntactic unit which consists of a noun and all the words and word groups that cluster around the noun and add to its meaning.

on the desk

PP

Prep. NP

det. N

Art.

on the desk

Prepositional

Phrase (PP)

A prepositional phrase is a syntactic unit which consists of a preposition and a word/word group that completes its meaning.

VP → V NP PP

1. Restrictors: especially, only, merely, just

2. Pre-determiners: half, double, both, twice

3. Determiners:

(a) Articles: a/an, the

(b) Demonstratives: this, that, these, those

(c) Possessives: my, his, own, Samran’s

4. Ordinals: first, second, last, next

5. Quantifiers: many, several, few, less

6. Adjective Phrases: good, very good,

good, nice looking

7. Classifiers: a city college

a leather bag

a summer dress

VP → V NP

PP → PREP NP

saw a movie at the theater

VP

V NP

Aux. V. det. N PP

Tense see Art. Prep. NP

Past det. N

Past – see

saw a movie at the theater

The only obligatory element in a noun phrase is the head noun, which means that a noun phrase minimally consists of a noun.

reads a book

VP

V NP

Aux. V. det. N

Tense read Art.

Present a book

Present – read

reads

Verbal Phrase (VP)

A verbal phrase is a syntactic unit which consists of a verb and all the words and word groups that cluster around the verb and add to its meaning, functioning as auxiliaries, modifiers and complements.

Verb phrase-structure rules

1. VP → V

2. VP → V NP

3. VP → V NP PP

4. VP → V (NP) (PP)

Structure of Coordination

Coordination means a word group can be coordinated with a similar structure using connectors or coordinating conjunctions.

conjunct + connector + conjunct

word + connector + word

phrase + connector + phrase

clause + connector + clause

What are ultimate constituents?

1. Uncle Vernon had been treating him like a child.

2. The woman was sleeping peacefully.

3. He jumped behind the wheel.

4. Her frightened eyes jumped from him to me.

5. A man named McBride had killed a convenience store clerk with a shotgun in Fresno in 1996.

The plane took off.

Sentence

S P

NP VP

Adj. N V Particle

The plane took off

Mabel and Sam met at the park.

The little rabbit and the big squirrel ran down the hill.

The orchestra played a symphony, and the choir sang.

• The ultimate constituents are the smallest meaningful units which any given construction can be broken down to.
• A sentence is seen not as a sequence or a "string" of elements, but as being made up of "layers" of constituents, each cutting point, or "node' in the diagram being given an identifying label.

Structure of Predication

Tree Diagram

The structure of predication is the relationship which exists between the subject and the predicate of the sentence.

S + V

Sam is sleeping.

Sam and Pat are walking down the street.

Structure of Modification

Sentence

Subject Predicate

Adjective Noun Verb Particle

Poor John ran away

Immediate Constituent Analysis (IC Analysis)

The structure of modification is such a relationship which means that there is the structural dependence of one grammatical unit upon another; one element is considered ‘more important’ than the others. This element is known as the head, or headword of the structure of the modification.

premodifier(s) + Head + postmodifier(s)

Syntactic Structures

Structure of Complementation

Kinds of Complements

Subjective complement

The woman is a nurse.

Direct object

He found a friend.

Indirect object

He gave his friend two books.

Objective complement

They consider the job finished.

What is IC analysis?

Verbal Elements

Linking (copulative) verbs - has complement but no passive

Intransitive verbs - has neither complement nor passive.

Transitive verbs - has both complement and passive.

The structure of complementation traditionally refers to the relationship which exists between the verb and the words and word groups that complete the meaning of the action specified by the verb. Since in most languages these complements come after the verb, the structure can be represented as follows:

Verb + complement(s)

• Immediate Constituent Analysis, a term introduced by Leonard Bloomfield in 1933, was developed to work out a scientific ‘discovery procedure’ to find out about the basic units of linguistics.
• The principal underlying theory is to cut a sentence into smaller parts till the smallest unit (ultimate constituent), the morpheme, is reached.