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Head-initial
In linguistics, head directionality is a proposed Principles and parameters, parameter that classifies languages according to whether they are head-initial (the head (linguistics), head of a phrase precedes its Complement (linguistics), complements) or head-final (the head follows its complements). The Head (linguistics), head is the element that determines the category of a phrase: for example, in a verb phrase, the head is a verb. Therefore, head initial would be Verb–object word order, "VO" languages and head final would be Object–verb word order, "OV" languages. Some languages are consistently head-initial or head-final at all phrasal levels. English grammar, English is considered to be mainly head-initial (verbs precede their objects, for example), while Japanese grammar, Japanese is an example of a language that is consistently head-final. In certain other languages, such as German language, German and Gbe languages, Gbe, examples of both types of head directionality occu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head or nucleus of a phrase is the word that determines the syntax, syntactic category of that phrase. For example, the head of the noun phrase "boiling hot water" is the noun (head noun) "water". Analogously, the head of a compound (linguistics), compound is the word stem, stem that determines the semantic category of that compound. For example, the head of the compound noun "handbag" is "bag", since a handbag is a bag, not a hand. The other elements of the phrase or compound Grammatical modifier, modify the head, and are therefore the head's ''dependent (grammar), dependents''. Headed phrases and compounds are called ''endocentric'', whereas ''exocentric'' ("headless") phrases and compounds (if they exist) lack a clear head. Heads are crucial to establishing the direction of branching (linguistics), branching. Head-initial phrases are right-branching, head-final phrases are left-branching, and head-medial phrases combine left- and right-branching. Basic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adjective Phrase
An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose Head (linguistics), head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland (1996:499), Crystal (1996:9), Greenbaum (1996:288ff.), Haegeman and Guéron (1999:70f.), Brinton (2000:172f.), Jurafsky and Martin (2000:362). The adjective can initiate the phrase (e.g. ''fond of steak''), conclude the phrase (e.g. ''very happy''), or appear in a medial position (e.g. ''quite upset about it''). The dependents of the head adjective—i.e. the other words and phrases inside the adjective phrase—are typically adverb or prepositional phrases, but they can also be clauses (e.g. ''louder than you are''). Adjectives and adjective phrases function in two basic ways, attributively or Predicative expression, predicatively. An attributive adjective (phrase) precedes the noun of a noun phrase (e.g. ''a very happy'' man). A predicativ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head or nucleus of a phrase is the word that determines the syntax, syntactic category of that phrase. For example, the head of the noun phrase "boiling hot water" is the noun (head noun) "water". Analogously, the head of a compound (linguistics), compound is the word stem, stem that determines the semantic category of that compound. For example, the head of the compound noun "handbag" is "bag", since a handbag is a bag, not a hand. The other elements of the phrase or compound Grammatical modifier, modify the head, and are therefore the head's ''dependent (grammar), dependents''. Headed phrases and compounds are called ''endocentric'', whereas ''exocentric'' ("headless") phrases and compounds (if they exist) lack a clear head. Heads are crucial to establishing the direction of branching (linguistics), branching. Head-initial phrases are right-branching, head-final phrases are left-branching, and head-medial phrases combine left- and right-branching. Basic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages), phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language, and analogous systems of sign languages), and pragmatics (how the context of use contributes to meaning). Subdisciplines such as biolinguistics (the study of the biological variables and evolution of language) and psycholinguistics (the study of psychological factors in human language) bridge many of these divisions. Linguistics encompasses Outline of linguistics, many branches and subfields that span both theoretical and practical applications. Theoretical linguistics is concerned with understanding the universal grammar, universal and Philosophy of language#Nature of language, fundamental nature of language and developing a general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Object (grammar)
In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but are not limited to direct objects, indirect objects, and arguments of adpositions ( prepositions or postpositions); the latter are more accurately termed ''oblique arguments'', thus including other arguments not covered by core grammatical roles, such as those governed by case morphology (as in languages such as Latin) or relational nouns (as is typical for members of the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area). In ergative-absolutive languages, for example most Australian Aboriginal languages, the term "subject" is ambiguous, and thus the term " agent" is often used instead to contrast with "object", such that basic word order is often spoken of in terms such as Agent-Object-Verb (AOV) instead of Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). Topic-prominent la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adverbial Phrase
In linguistics, an ''adverbial phrase'' ("AdvP") is a multi-word expression operating adverbially: its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives, adverbs, adverbials, and sentences. Some grammars use the label adverb phrase to denote an adverbial phrase composed entirely of adverbs versus an ''adverbial phrase'', which might not contain an adverb. Adverbial phrases can be divided into two types: complementary phrases and modifying phrases. For example, ''very well'' is a complementary adverbial phrase that complements "sang" in the sentence "She sang ''very well''". More specifically, the adverbial phrase ''very well'' contains two adverbs, ''very'' and ''well'': while ''well'' qualifies the verb to convey information about the manner of singing. By contrast, ''almost always'' is a modifying adverbial phrase that modifies "skip" in the sentence "I ''almost always'' skip breakfast." The following examples illustrate some of the most comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noun
In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a phrase, clause, or sentence.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, dead, or imaginary): ''mushrooms, dogs, Afro-Caribbeans, rosebushes, Mandela, bacteria, Klingons'', etc. * Physical objects: ''hammers, pencils, Earth, guitars, atoms, stones, boots, shadows'', etc. * Places: ''closets, temples, rivers, Antarctica, houses, Uluru, utopia'', etc. * Actions of individuals or groups: ''swimming, exercises, cough, explosions, flight, electrification, embezzlement'', etc. * Physical qualities: ''colors, lengths, porosity, weights, roundness, symmetry, solidity,'' etc. * Mental or bodily states: ''jealousy, sleep, joy, headache, confusion'', etc. In linguistics, nouns constitute a lexical category (part of speech) defined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noun Phrase
A noun phrase – or NP or nominal (phrase) – is a phrase that usually has a noun or pronoun as its head, and has the same grammatical functions as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently occurring phrase type. Noun phrases often function as verb subjects and objects, as predicative expressions, and as complements of prepositions. One NP can be embedded inside another NP; for instance, ''some of his constituents'' has as a constituent the shorter NP ''his constituents''. In some theories of grammar, noun phrases with determiners are analyzed as having the determiner as the head of the phrase, see for instance Chomsky (1995) and Hudson (1990) . Identification Some examples of noun phrases are underlined in the sentences below. The head noun appears in bold. ::This election-year's politics are annoying for many people. ::Almost every sentence contains at least one noun phrase. ::Current economic weakness may be a re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verb–subject–object Word Order
In linguistic typology, a verb–subject–object (VSO) language has its most typical sentences arrange their elements in that order, as in ''Ate Sam apples'' (Sam ate apples). VSO is the third-most common word order among the world's languages, after SOV (as in Hindi and Japanese) and SVO (as in English and Mandarin Chinese). Language families in which all or many of their members are VSO include the following: * the Insular Celtic languages (including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton) * the Afroasiatic languages (including Berber, Assyrian, Egyptian, Classical and Modern Standard Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, and Ge'ez) * the Austronesian languages (including Tagalog, Visayan, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Kadazan Dusun, Hawaiian, Māori, and Tongan). * the Salishan languages * many Mesoamerican languages, such as the Mayan languages and Oto-Manguean languages * many Nilotic languages (including Nandi and Maasai) Many languages, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subject–object–verb Word Order
In linguistic typology, a subject–object–verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence always or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam apples ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate apples" which is subject–verb–object (SVO). The term is often loosely used for ergative languages like Adyghe and Basque that in fact have agents instead of subjects. Incidence Among natural languages with a word order preference, SOV is the most common type (followed by subject–verb–object; the two types account for more than 87% of natural languages with a preferred order). Languages that have SOV structure include * most Indo-Iranian languages ( Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindustani, Kurdish, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Pāli, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Sindhi, Sinhala, Zaza) * Ainu * Akkadian * Armenian * Assyrian * Aymara * Basque * Burushaski * Cherokee * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
