Immediate Constituents and Syntactical AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 No. 1, 2012
Constructions in the English Language sentence are the subject and the predicate
Abstract (http://dictionary.reverso.net/englishdefinition/immediate%20consti Every syntactic construction is made up of immediate constituent (IC), i.e., a term used in grammatical analysis to refer to the major divisions that can be made tuent ) within a syntactic construction, at any level. For instance, the sentence “The boy In IC analysis, a sentence is divided up into major divisions or is walking” has its immediate constituents as the boy and is walking. These in immediate constituents, and these constituents are in turn divided turn can be analysed in their immediate constituents to include: (the + boy, is + walking). The process goes on until irreducible constituents are reached. This into further immediate constituents, and this process continues until procedure is known as immediate constituent analysis or constituent analysis. irreducible constituents are reached i.e. until each constituent Different constituents have different constructions. The study of constructions is consists of only a word or meaningful part of a word (morpheme). important in that it helps us to compare languages and is also of use in dealing That is to say, sentences are regarded as hierarchies of interlocking with the grammatical and syntactic analysis of a specific language. It also smaller units, or constituents. After a sentence is cut into its reduces ambiguity in language. This paper examines the immediate constituent analysis and types of constructions we have in the English language, citing constituent elements, the two parts that are yielded are called adequate examples. immediate constituents . Then, we get the smallest grammatical Key words: constituents, immediate constituents, construction, endocentric and unit obtained through the division, or segmentation, which is seen exocentric construction, coordinate and subordinate construction as the ultimate constituent. For example: the boy is smart. This sentence can be divided into immediate constituents: “the boy” and Introduction “is smart”. These in turn can be analyzed into immediate Immediate Constituents constituents (the + boy) and (is + smart). When we consider the sentence My friend came home late last The segmentation of the sentence up into its immediate constituents night , we find out that it consists of seven words arranged in a by using binary cuttings until its ultimate constituents are obtained particular order. In syntax, the seven words in this model sentence is an important approach to the realization of the nature of are its ultimate constituents. This sentence and in general any language, called Immediate Constituent Analysis (IC Analysis). sentence of the language may be represented as a particular The analysis can be carried out in ways of tree diagrams, bracketing arrangement of the ultimate constituents, which are the minimal or any other. For example: grammatical elements, of which the sentence is composed. Every sentence has therefore what we will refer to as a linear structure. The small units are known as its immediate constituents. (1) Poor| John ║ ran |out. Immediate Constituents Analysis In Linguistics, Immediate Constituent Analysis, known as IC (2) Tree Diagram analysis, is a method of sentence analysis first explicitly introduced by an American linguist, Leonard Bloomfield; in his book The tree diagram is a visual description of each unit that constitutes Language published in1933. It is a major feature of Bloomfeldian the constituents hierarchically. For example, as follows: structural linguistics. Collins64 Dictionary Online defines immediate constituent as a constituent of a linguistic construction at the first step in an analysis; for example, the immediate constituents of a 82 83
Nnolim: Achebe as a Social Critic AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 No. 1, 2012
Example (a) subject part, and ran away , the predicate part. Poor John ran out 2. That some groups of words are syntactically equivalent to single words. Thus, the group of words very rich is
equivalent syntactically to the single word poor in the Poor John ran out expressions very rich man and poor man .|[p. 233]
3. That the analysis of a sentence yields a single unbroken hierarchy of groups. For example, the sentence Poor John Poor John ran out ran away is analysed first into poor John and ran away . The first of these two constituent parts of the sentence is in turn Example (b) analysed into poor and John , and the second into ran and S away . In no instance are discontinuous constituents NP VP AdjP AdvP recognized, say poor ... away , nor do any constituents overlap, as they would if we posited poor John and John ran Det N Aux V Adv Adj Adv Adj as constituents. Note also that two constituents are The weather has turned very cold just recently recognized each time the process of analysis is applied to a Three sizes of unit have been distinguished: clause, phrase, and sequence. To divide a sentence such as English John loves word. A further level would distinguish morphemes (turn, -ed, Mary into three immediate constituents ( John , loves , and recent, -ly) as constituents of words. The terms for different phrase Mary would not be considered a normal analysis by the (noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, etc) obviously reflect practitioners of this theory (161). the character of the words which are the main constituents of these units. The issue here involves part-whole relation, that is, units Constructions which are indirectly part of a larger unit. Thus in the above A construction is a relationship between constituents. Different example, not only [the weather], but indirectly also [the] and constituents have different constructions as noted above. A [weather] are constituents of the whole clause. We however, use the construction type is defined by Hockett as “a group of constructions term “Immediate Constituent” for those units which are the parts which are similar in some specified way” (183). He used the into which another unit is immediately divisible: thus the verb sentence “The old dog lay in the corner” to illustrate this. The first phrase [has turned] is an immediate constituent of the whole clause ICs are old dog and lay in the corner. Moving further we have (old and the auxiliary [has] and the main verb [turned] are immediate + dog, lay + in the corner). Though these constructions may differ, constituents of the verb phrase [has turned]. they may show certain similarities that determine their The three fundamental characteristics of immediate constituent classifications. For instance, an old dog , in terms of meaning, is one syntactic analysis as expounded in Bloomfield’s Language are: kind of dog, and lying in the corner is one kind of lying. The situation we have here is that one IC is modifying the meaning of 1. That any sentence breaks down or can be split binarily into a the other, though this is not true of all situations as in the ICs —men subject part and a predicate part. Thus, the English sentence and women do not refer to one kind of men or to one kind of Poor John ran away breaks down into poor John , the women. 84 85
Nnolim: Achebe as a Social Critic AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 No. 1, 2012
The importance of the study of construction in language cannot be marked by those of the constituent is the head or center ; the other over-emphasised. Hockett describes two of them: constituent is the attribute. This head word relates to and confers Construction types are useful in comparing languages as meaning with the rest of the words comprising the phrase; for constructions should be defined separately for languages, example, in “three little pigs”, the word ’pigs’ is the head word. though they may be similar in some cases. ’Pigs’ relates to ’little’ to make ’little pigs’ and to ’three’ to make • Again, “construction-types are also helpful in dealing with a ’three pigs,’ but ’little’ and ’three’ do not relate to one another single language because there are instances in which it is not directly, as ’three little’ makes no sense. In the phrase: ’dogs and easy to tell whether two constituents have been built by a demons’, there are two head words, ’dogs’ and ’demons.’ single construction or only by two similar ones” (183). Usually noun phrases, verb phrases and adjective phrases belong to This he illustrates with the constituents white house and little house . endocentric types because the constituent items are subordinate to One may tend to think that the constructions are similar but while the Head. Let us look at other heads or centres in the following little may be added to the first to have little white house , we may diagrammatically explained: not be able to add white to the second —no one says white little house . But the constructions are certainly of closely similar type. (a) these two oldest stone bridges According to Hockett, the specification of constructions involves: 1. designation of the form-class from which each constituent is selected, and 2. designation of the form-class to which the resulting constituent belongs. Head Thus the construction of old/dog may be described (1) as involving a descriptive adjective (new, old, young, big, friendly, etc.) as first IC and a singular noun (dog, cat, boy, table, etc.) as second; and (2) (b) will be leaving as yielding constituent which also belongs to the class of singular nouns. A form-class, in its turn is defined in terms of a range of privileges of occurrence in larger forms. The syntactic constructions analyzed are of two main types: Head endocentric and exocentric constructions, depending on their distribution and the relation between their constituents. (c) very late
1. Endocentric Construction
Endocentric construction is one whose distribution is functionally Head equivalent to that of one or more of its constituents, i.e., a word or a group of words, which serves as a definable centre or head . Put in other words, the constituents whose privileges of occurrence are Source:http://notions-english- 86 87
Nnolim: Achebe as a Social Critic AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 No. 1, 2012
disciple.blogspot.com/2011/08/endocentric-and-exocentric.html and , but and or . This phenomenon is known as coordination. And these two or more words or phrases or clauses have equivalent The endocentric word of a noun phrase is the most important word syntactic status; each of the separate constituents can stand for the contained within the phrase. In compound words, two words merge original construction functionally. Let us look at the following together to create a third word that combines attributes from both. examples: For example, the stem word ’board’ can be combined with ’black’ Coordination of NPs: and ’white’ to make ’blackboard’ and ’whiteboard.’ The head word The lady or the tiger (NP + NP) in the endocentric construction is ’board’ as the colors merely Coordination of VPs: modify the meaning of the head. Other examples of endocentric Go to the library and read a book (VP + VP) constructions in compounds include the ’saw’ in ’hacksaw’ and the Coordination of PPs: ’brush’ in ’hairbrush.’ down the stairs and out the door (PP + PP) Coordination of APs: Some constructions are such that the form-class of the constituents quite expensive and very beautiful (Adv. Phrase + is similar to the form-class of at least one of the ICs. Still using Adv. Phrase) Hockett’s examples, the construction of old/dog is of the sort just Coordination of Ss: described. ”Old dog” is a singular noun just as is dog: the privilege John loves Mary and Mary loves John too (S + S) of occurrence in larger forms of old dog is much the same as those of dog. Thus ”the dog” (or old dog) ran away; I saw the (old dog); a Such structures are usually considered to be double headed, since big (old) dog; one (old) dog; and so on. The construction of ”lay/ in both of the conjoined elements function as heads of the larger unit. the corner” is also of this sort. He lay there (or there in the corner) That is, in a coordinate sentence, two (or more) S constituents occur yesterday; He lay (or lay in the corner) motionless; and so on. In as daughters and co-heads of a higher S. ”old dog”, old is attribute and dog is head. In ”lay in the corner”, One property of coordination is that there is no limit on the number ”lay” is head and ”in the corner” is attribute. In ”men and women” of coordinated categories that can appear prior to the conjunction. both ICs are heads and there is no attribute. An endocentric Thus, we can form structures such as A man, a woman, a boy, a cat construction involving an attribute is ”attributive” or ”sub- and a dog got into the car in which the subject NP contains smaller ordinate”; one with no attribute is ”co-ordinate”. Any construction NPs prior to the conjunction and one after it: Therefore, which shows the property just described and illustrated is coordination occupies its own place in the creativity of language endocentric . otherwise known as recursiveness From the above examples, one can say that there are subtypes of Coordinate constructions: additive, alternative and appositive Endocentric constructions fall into two main types, depending on (Hockett 185). It is additive when it involves the marker “and” as in the relation between constituents: coordination and subordination. men and women; red and green (lights); she walks slowly and ungracefully; (He) ran up and kissed her; one hundred \twenty; COORDINATION is a common syntactic pattern in English and twenty \eight. other languages formed by grouping together two or more Alternative coordinate construction is marked by “or”: men or categories of the same type with the help of a conjunction such as women; (Did he come) yesterday or today?; red or green (lights). 88 89
Nnolim: Achebe as a Social Critic AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 No. 1, 2012
(Complement clause) Coordinate constructions can also be exemplified by these (b) Elizabeth opened her presents [before John finished his constructions: both James and John; neither John nor Peter; either dinner]. (Adverbial clause) Mary or Jane; (I don’t know) whether he likes it or not; three plus three; three times three; three minus three , etc. (c) The woman [that I love] is moving to the south. Another variety of coordinate construction is the appositive (Relative clause). subtype. This is where in the endocentric construction it is difficult Since all clauses contain a noun phrase subject and a finite to say which IC is the head as in the following examples: Queen verb phrase predicate, you can expand their noun phrases Mary, Lake Chad, Professor Martins, Mister Paul, Miss Veronica, and verb phrases, and you can rearrange and conjoin them, John\the Baptist, the boy I was telling you about; Clark \the in this sense, subordination, as well as coordination, can dramatist; Ohaeto,\author of “The Chants of the Minstrel.” take part in the recursiveness of language in several ways.
SUBORDINATION: Another type of endocentric construction is 1. Exocentric Construction subordination . Subordination refers to the process or result of The second basic type of construction is the EXOCENTRIC linking linguistic units so that they have different syntactic status, construction. Exocentric construction is one in which the primary one being dependent upon the other, and usually a constituent of the constituent or constituents do not function like the complete other. Thus the subordinate constituents are words which modify construction. It is defined negatively as a construction whose the Head , as shown in the underlined parts of the constructions. distribution is not functionally equivalent to any of its constituents Consequently, they can be called modifiers . (http://course.cug.edu.cn/cug/eng_language/chpt4/4-2-3.htm). Examples: Example, “in the house” is exocentric because the constituent “the house” functions differently from a prepositional phrase. Sentences (a) Two dogs are exocentric because the constituents function differently from the Head whole. “John takes coffee”. None of the constituents is comparable (b) (My brother) can drink (wine). to the entire sentence. Exocentric construction refers to a group of syntactically related words where none of the words is functionally Head equivalent to the group as a whole. That is, there is no definable (c) Swimming in the lake (is fun). ’centre’ or ’head’ inside the group. This kind of construction Head includes basic sentence, prepositional phrase, predicate (V + object) construction and connective (be + complement) construction. (d) (The pepper was) hot beyond endurance . Examples include: Head a) The boy smiled. Certainly, clauses can be used as subordinate constituents, the b) He hide behind the door. three basic types of subordinate clauses are: complement clauses, c) He kicked the ball. d) John seemed angry. adjunct (or adverbial) clauses, and relative clauses. (a) John believes [that the airplane was invented by an Irishman]. 90 91
Nnolim: Achebe as a Social Critic AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies Volume 3 No. 1, 2012
The difference between endocentric and exocentric constructions is also usually the difference between phrases and clauses. In an Works Cited exocentric construction, the words are not syntactically related, and Bloomfield, Leonard. Language. New York: Henry Holt, 1933, p. so words can be removed and there will still be a meaning. Clauses 161; that are exocentric include ’we heard her. Collins English Dictionary . 5th Edition. first published in 2000 HarperCollins Publishers, 2000 Conclusion ”Endocentricity And Exocentricity”. Anti Essays. 2 May. 2012 The study has shown that a sentence does not only have a LINEAR
Nneka, Umera-Okeke, Ph.D teaches in the Department of Languages School of General Studies Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, Nigeria E-mail: [email protected]
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