A syntactic category is a syntactic unit that theories of syntax assume. Word classes, largely corresponding to traditional parts of speech (e.g. noun, verb, preposition, etc.), are syntactic categories. In phrase structure grammars, the phrasal categories (e.g. noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, etc.) are also syntactic categories. Dependency grammars, however, do not acknowledge phrasal categories (at least not in the traditional sense).
Word classes considered as syntactic categories may be called lexical categories, as distinct from phrasal categories. The terminology is somewhat inconsistent between the theoretical models of different linguists. However, many grammars also draw a distinction between lexical categories (which tend to consist of content words, or phrases headed by them) and functional categories (which tend to consist of function words or abstract functional elements, or phrases headed by them). The term lexical category therefore has two distinct meanings. Moreover, syntactic categories should not be confused with grammatical categories (also known as grammatical features), which are properties such as tense, gender, etc.
Defining criteria
At least three criteria are used in defining syntactic categories:
- The type of meaning it expresses
- The type of affixes it takes
- The structure in which it occurs
For instance, many nouns in English denote concrete entities, they are pluralized with the suffix -s, and they occur as subjects and objects in clauses. Many verbs denote actions or states, they are conjugated with agreement suffixes (e.g. -s of the third person singular in English), and in English they tend to show up in medial positions of the clauses in which they appear.
The third criterion is also known as distribution. The distribution of a given syntactic unit determines the syntactic category to which it belongs. The distributional behavior of syntactic units is identified by substitution. Like syntactic units can be substituted for each other.
Additionally, there are also informal criteria one can use in order to determine syntactic categories. For example, one informal means of determining if an item is lexical, as opposed to functional, is to see if it is left behind in "telegraphic speech" (that is, the way a telegram would be written; e.g., Pants fire. Bring water, need help.)
Lexical categories vs. phrasal categories
The traditional parts of speech are lexical categories, in one meaning of that term. Traditional grammars tend to acknowledge approximately eight to twelve lexical categories, e.g.
- Lexical categories
- adjective (A), adposition (preposition, postposition, circumposition) (P), adverb (Adv), coordinate conjunction (C), determiner (D), interjection (I), noun (N), particle (Par), pronoun (Pr), subordinate conjunction (Sub), verb (V), etc.
The lexical categories that a given grammar assumes will likely vary from this list. Certainly numerous subcategories can be acknowledged. For instance, one can view pronouns as a subtype of noun, and verbs can be divided into finite verbs and non-finite verbs (e.g. gerund, infinitive, participle, etc.). The central lexical categories give rise to corresponding phrasal categories:
- Phrasal categories
- Adjective phrase (AP), adverb phrase (AdvP), adposition phrase (PP), noun phrase (NP), verb phrase (VP), etc.
In terms of phrase structure rules, phrasal categories can occur to the left of the arrow while lexical categories cannot, e.g. NP → D N. Traditionally, a phrasal category should consist of two or more words, although conventions vary in this area. X-bar theory, for instance, often sees individual words corresponding to phrasal categories. Phrasal categories are illustrated with the following trees:
The lexical and phrasal categories are identified according to the node labels, phrasal categories receiving the "P" designation.
Lexical categories only
Dependency grammars do not acknowledge phrasal categories in the way that phrase structure grammars do. What this means is that the interaction between lexical and phrasal categories disappears, the result being that only the lexical categories are acknowledged. The tree representations are simpler because the number of nodes and categories is reduced, e.g.
The distinction between lexical and phrasal categories is absent here. The number of nodes is reduced by removing all nodes marked with "P". Note, however, that phrases can still be acknowledged insofar as any subtree that contains two or more words will qualify as a phrase.
Lexical categories vs. functional categories
Many grammars draw a distinction between lexical categories and functional categories. This distinction is orthogonal to the distinction between lexical categories and phrasal categories. In this context, the term lexical category applies only to those parts of speech and their phrasal counterparts that form open classes and have full semantic content. The parts of speech that form closed classes and have mainly just functional content are called functional categories:
- Lexical categories
- Adjective (A) and adjective phrase (AP), adverb (Adv) and adverb phrase (AdvP), noun (N) and noun phrase (NP), verb and verb phrase (VP), preposition and prepositional phrase (PP)
- Functional categories
- Coordinate conjunction (C), determiner (D), negation (Neg), particle (Par), preposition (P) and prepositional phrase (PP), subordinate conjunction (Sub), etc.
There is disagreement in certain areas, for instance concerning the status of prepositions. The distinction between lexical and functional categories plays a big role in Chomskyan grammars (Transformational Grammar, Government and Binding Theory, Minimalist Program), where the role of the functional categories is large. Many phrasal categories are assumed that do not correspond directly to a specific part of speech, e.g. inflection phrase (IP), tense phrase (TP), agreement phrase (AgrP), focus phrase (FP), etc. (see also Phrase → Functional categories). In order to acknowledge such functional categories, one has to assume that the constellation is a primitive of the theory and that it exists separately from the words that appear. As a consequence, many grammar frameworks do not acknowledge such functional categories, e.g. Head Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Dependency Grammar, etc.
- Note: The abbreviations for these categories vary across systems; see Part-of-speech tagging § Tag sets.
Labels in the Minimalist Program
Early research suggested shifting away from the use of labelling, as they were considered to be non-optimal for the analysis of syntactic structure, and should therefore be eliminated. Collins (2002) argued that, although labels such as Noun, Pronoun, Adjective and the like were unavoidable and undoubtedly useful for categorizing syntactic items, providing labels for the projections of those items, was not useful and was, in fact, detrimental to structural analysis, since there were disagreements and discussions about how exactly to label these projections. The labeling of projections such as Noun Phrases (NP), Verb Phrases (VP), and others have since been a topic of discussion amongst syntacticians, who have since then been working on labelling algorithms to solve the very problem brought up by Collins.
In line with both Phrase Structure Rules and X-bar theory, syntactic labelling plays an important role within Chomsky's Minimalist Program (MP). Chomsky first developed the MP by means of creating a theoretical framework for generative grammar that can be applied universally among all languages. In contrast to Phrase Structure Rules and X-bar theory, many of the research and proposed theories done on labels are fairly recent and still ongoing.
See also
- Dependency grammar
- Empty category
- Grammatical category
- Lexical category (part of speech)
- Merge (linguistics)
- Phrase
- Phrase structure grammar
- Syntax
Notes
- For the general reasoning behind syntactic categories, see Bach (1974:70-71) and Haegeman (1994:36).
- Luraghi, Sylvia; Parodi, Claudi (2008). Key Terms in Syntax and Syntactic theories. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 15–17.
- See Culicover (1982:8ff.).
- Carnie, Andrew (2013). Syntax A Generative Introduction. MA, US: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 52. ISBN 9781118321874.
- See for instance Emonds (1976:14), Culicover (1982:12), Brown and Miller (1991:24, 105), Cowper (1992:20, 173), Napoli (1993:169, 52), Haegeman (1994:38), Culicover (1997:19), Brinton (2000:169).
- See for instance Emonds (1976:12), Culicover (1982:13), Brown and Miller (1991:107), Cowper (1992:20), Napoli(1993:165), Haegeman (1994:38).
- "A Grammar of English". Public ASU. June 2000.
- For examples of grammars that draw a distinction between lexical and functional categories, see for instance Fowler (1971:36, 40), Emonds (1976:13), Cowper (1992:173ff.), Culicover (1997:142), Haegeman and Guéron (1999:58), Falk (2001:34ff.), Carnie (2007:45f.).
- Collins, Chris (2002). "Eliminating Labels". In Derivation and Explanation in the Minimalist Program: 33–49.
References
- Bach, E. 1974. Syntactic theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
- Brinton, L. 2000. The structure of modern English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
- Brown, K. and J. Miller. 1991. Syntax: A linguistic introduction to sentence structure, 2nd edition. London: UK: HarperCollins Academic.
- Carnie, A. 2007. Syntax: A generative introduction, 2nd edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
- Cowper, E. 2009. A concise introduction to syntactic theory: The government-binding approach. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- Culicover, P. 1982. Syntax, 2nd edition. New York: Academic Press.
- Culicover, P. 1997. Principles and Parameters: An introduction to syntactic theory. Oxford University Press.
- Emonds, J. 1976. A transformational approach to English syntax: Root, structure-preserving, and local-transformations. New York: Academic-Press.
- Falk, Y. 2001. Lexical-Functional Grammar: An introduction to parallel constraint-based syntax. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
- Fowler, R. 1971. An introduction to transformational syntax. New York: Barnes and Noblles Inc.
- Haegeman, L. 1994. Introduction to government and binding theory, 2nd edition. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
- Haegeman, L. and J. Guéron. 1999. English grammar: A generative perspective. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.
A syntactic category is a syntactic unit that theories of syntax assume Word classes largely corresponding to traditional parts of speech e g noun verb preposition etc are syntactic categories In phrase structure grammars the phrasal categories e g noun phrase verb phrase prepositional phrase etc are also syntactic categories Dependency grammars however do not acknowledge phrasal categories at least not in the traditional sense Word classes considered as syntactic categories may be called lexical categories as distinct from phrasal categories The terminology is somewhat inconsistent between the theoretical models of different linguists However many grammars also draw a distinction between lexical categories which tend to consist of content words or phrases headed by them and functional categories which tend to consist of function words or abstract functional elements or phrases headed by them The term lexical category therefore has two distinct meanings Moreover syntactic categories should not be confused with grammatical categories also known as grammatical features which are properties such as tense gender etc Defining criteriaAt least three criteria are used in defining syntactic categories The type of meaning it expresses The type of affixes it takes The structure in which it occurs dd For instance many nouns in English denote concrete entities they are pluralized with the suffix s and they occur as subjects and objects in clauses Many verbs denote actions or states they are conjugated with agreement suffixes e g s of the third person singular in English and in English they tend to show up in medial positions of the clauses in which they appear The third criterion is also known as distribution The distribution of a given syntactic unit determines the syntactic category to which it belongs The distributional behavior of syntactic units is identified by substitution Like syntactic units can be substituted for each other Additionally there are also informal criteria one can use in order to determine syntactic categories For example one informal means of determining if an item is lexical as opposed to functional is to see if it is left behind in telegraphic speech that is the way a telegram would be written e g Pants fire Bring water need help Lexical categories vs phrasal categoriesThe traditional parts of speech are lexical categories in one meaning of that term Traditional grammars tend to acknowledge approximately eight to twelve lexical categories e g Lexical categories adjective A adposition preposition postposition circumposition P adverb Adv coordinate conjunction C determiner D interjection I noun N particle Par pronoun Pr subordinate conjunction Sub verb V etc dd The lexical categories that a given grammar assumes will likely vary from this list Certainly numerous subcategories can be acknowledged For instance one can view pronouns as a subtype of noun and verbs can be divided into finite verbs and non finite verbs e g gerund infinitive participle etc The central lexical categories give rise to corresponding phrasal categories Phrasal categories Adjective phrase AP adverb phrase AdvP adposition phrase PP noun phrase NP verb phrase VP etc dd In terms of phrase structure rules phrasal categories can occur to the left of the arrow while lexical categories cannot e g NP D N Traditionally a phrasal category should consist of two or more words although conventions vary in this area X bar theory for instance often sees individual words corresponding to phrasal categories Phrasal categories are illustrated with the following trees dd The lexical and phrasal categories are identified according to the node labels phrasal categories receiving the P designation Lexical categories onlyDependency grammars do not acknowledge phrasal categories in the way that phrase structure grammars do What this means is that the interaction between lexical and phrasal categories disappears the result being that only the lexical categories are acknowledged The tree representations are simpler because the number of nodes and categories is reduced e g dd The distinction between lexical and phrasal categories is absent here The number of nodes is reduced by removing all nodes marked with P Note however that phrases can still be acknowledged insofar as any subtree that contains two or more words will qualify as a phrase Lexical categories vs functional categoriesMany grammars draw a distinction between lexical categories and functional categories This distinction is orthogonal to the distinction between lexical categories and phrasal categories In this context the term lexical category applies only to those parts of speech and their phrasal counterparts that form open classes and have full semantic content The parts of speech that form closed classes and have mainly just functional content are called functional categories Lexical categories Adjective A and adjective phrase AP adverb Adv and adverb phrase AdvP noun N and noun phrase NP verb and verb phrase VP preposition and prepositional phrase PP dd Functional categories Coordinate conjunction C determiner D negation Neg particle Par preposition P and prepositional phrase PP subordinate conjunction Sub etc dd There is disagreement in certain areas for instance concerning the status of prepositions The distinction between lexical and functional categories plays a big role in Chomskyan grammars Transformational Grammar Government and Binding Theory Minimalist Program where the role of the functional categories is large Many phrasal categories are assumed that do not correspond directly to a specific part of speech e g inflection phrase IP tense phrase TP agreement phrase AgrP focus phrase FP etc see also Phrase Functional categories In order to acknowledge such functional categories one has to assume that the constellation is a primitive of the theory and that it exists separately from the words that appear As a consequence many grammar frameworks do not acknowledge such functional categories e g Head Driven Phrase Structure Grammar Dependency Grammar etc Note The abbreviations for these categories vary across systems see Part of speech tagging Tag sets Labels in the Minimalist ProgramEarly research suggested shifting away from the use of labelling as they were considered to be non optimal for the analysis of syntactic structure and should therefore be eliminated Collins 2002 argued that although labels such as Noun Pronoun Adjective and the like were unavoidable and undoubtedly useful for categorizing syntactic items providing labels for the projections of those items was not useful and was in fact detrimental to structural analysis since there were disagreements and discussions about how exactly to label these projections The labeling of projections such as Noun Phrases NP Verb Phrases VP and others have since been a topic of discussion amongst syntacticians who have since then been working on labelling algorithms to solve the very problem brought up by Collins In line with both Phrase Structure Rules and X bar theory syntactic labelling plays an important role within Chomsky s Minimalist Program MP Chomsky first developed the MP by means of creating a theoretical framework for generative grammar that can be applied universally among all languages In contrast to Phrase Structure Rules and X bar theory many of the research and proposed theories done on labels are fairly recent and still ongoing See alsoDependency grammar Empty category Grammatical category Lexical category part of speech Merge linguistics Phrase Phrase structure grammar SyntaxNotesFor the general reasoning behind syntactic categories see Bach 1974 70 71 and Haegeman 1994 36 Luraghi Sylvia Parodi Claudi 2008 Key Terms in Syntax and Syntactic theories Continuum International Publishing Group pp 15 17 See Culicover 1982 8ff Carnie Andrew 2013 Syntax A Generative Introduction MA US Wiley Blackwell p 52 ISBN 9781118321874 See for instance Emonds 1976 14 Culicover 1982 12 Brown and Miller 1991 24 105 Cowper 1992 20 173 Napoli 1993 169 52 Haegeman 1994 38 Culicover 1997 19 Brinton 2000 169 See for instance Emonds 1976 12 Culicover 1982 13 Brown and Miller 1991 107 Cowper 1992 20 Napoli 1993 165 Haegeman 1994 38 A Grammar of English Public ASU June 2000 For examples of grammars that draw a distinction between lexical and functional categories see for instance Fowler 1971 36 40 Emonds 1976 13 Cowper 1992 173ff Culicover 1997 142 Haegeman and Gueron 1999 58 Falk 2001 34ff Carnie 2007 45f Collins Chris 2002 Eliminating Labels In Derivation and Explanation in the Minimalist Program 33 49 ReferencesBach E 1974 Syntactic theory New York Holt Rinehart and Winston Inc Brinton L 2000 The structure of modern English Amsterdam John Benjamins Publishing Company Brown K and J Miller 1991 Syntax A linguistic introduction to sentence structure 2nd edition London UK HarperCollins Academic Carnie A 2007 Syntax A generative introduction 2nd edition Malden MA Blackwell Publishing Cowper E 2009 A concise introduction to syntactic theory The government binding approach Chicago The University of Chicago Press Culicover P 1982 Syntax 2nd edition New York Academic Press Culicover P 1997 Principles and Parameters An introduction to syntactic theory Oxford University Press Emonds J 1976 A transformational approach to English syntax Root structure preserving and local transformations New York Academic Press Falk Y 2001 Lexical Functional Grammar An introduction to parallel constraint based syntax Stanford CA CSLI Publications Fowler R 1971 An introduction to transformational syntax New York Barnes and Noblles Inc Haegeman L 1994 Introduction to government and binding theory 2nd edition Oxford UK Blackwell Haegeman L and J Gueron 1999 English grammar A generative perspective Oxford UK Blackwell Publishers
