1. Constituency
Lec. 5

2. Syntax & Constituents
Syntactic rules determine the order of words in a sentence, and how the words are grouped.
E.g.
NP + VP + NP
the child found the puppy = (the child) + (found the puppy)
(the child) = (the) + (child)
(Found the puppy) = (found) + (the puppy)
(the puppy) = (the) + (puppy)

3. Constituents
A constituent is an identifiable subpart of a sentence. It can either be a single word or a group of words. Most constituents are called phrases.
The natural groupings of a sentence are called constituents
Constituents = these internal structures
Constituents = the units of substructure

4. Constituents
If one word modifies the meaning of another, they will be linked in a constituent.
E.g.
The very big can of tuna
(very & big) 
(very & can ) 

5. Phrase structure rules S  NP VP

6. Typical constituents S  sentence NP  noun phrase VP  verbal phrase
PP  prepositional NP
N 
V 
Art. 
Adj. 
Adv. 
Prep. 

7. Constituents Please note:
Constituents are usually parts of other constituents
e.g.
The very big can of tuna
Words that modify one another need not be adjacent to each another
The beautiful old town houses

8. Exercise / semantic modification test for constituency A black cat quickly scratched the rather large couch
Yes No 1
Does a modify black? 2
Does a modify cat? 3
Does black modify cat? 4
Does the modify rather? 5
Does the modify large? 6
Does the modify couch? 7
Does rather modify couch? 8
Does rather modify large? 9
Does rather large modify couch? 10
Does quickly modify scratched?

9. Constituents Constituent:
A linguistic unit (usually in sentence analysis) which is part of a larger construction.
Constituents are usually parts of other constituents

10. Constituent structure
The arrangement of linguistic units (constituents) in a phrase, clause, sentence, etc., in order to show their relationship to one another. A constituent structure can be represented in various ways. A popular way is to use a tree diagram.

11. Representing constituents
In the tree notation, the name of the whole constituent is written on top; ach subconstituent is connected to this label with a line
e.g.
The penguin swallowed the fish
The monkey ate a banana

12. Constituent structure & tree diagram
The penguin swallowed the fish
The
Penguin
swallowed
The fish
The penguin
Swallowed the fish

13. Rules & Constituents
There are some rules that govern what goes into each constituent:
There are various linguistic tests that reveal the constituents of a sentence.

14. Stand-alone Test
If a string of words can stand alone in answer to a question, then it is a constituent.
Remember that:
When a string of words is a constituent, it functions as a unit

15. Example The child found the puppy in the garden
What did the child find?
Who found the puppy?
Where did the child find the puppy?

16. Example I found The very big can of tuna in the cupboard this morning
What did you find in the cupboard?
How big was that can of tuna?
Where did you find the can of tuna?
When did you find the can of tuna?

17. Exercise A black cat scratched the rather large couch Yes No 1 a black2
a black cat 3
the rather 4
rather large 5
the rather large couch 6
quickly scratched 7
quickly scratched the rather large couch

18. 2. Replacement test for constituency
If you can replace a string of words with a single word. Without changing the meaning of the rest of the sentence, then that string is a constituent.
Remember that:
When a string of words is a constituent, it functions as a unit

19. Examples
E.g.
The big fat cat with black and white fur demanded attention
Calvin demanded attention

20. Exercise
Replace the underlined strings (constituents) with a single word:
I took the garbage to the dump.
The guy with the feather hat fell on the floor.
Susan arrived from Chicago.

21. 3. The displacement or movement test
If a string of words can be displaced (i. e. moved) as a unit, then it is a constituent
a cleft is a displacement, where a string of words is placed at the beginning of the sentence after the words it is/ it was / it will be but before a word like that, who, where, or whose and the rest of the sentence

22. Example I saw the cat with the black and white fur The Cleft structure
It was the cat with the black and white fur that I saw

23. Exercise
Try clefting the underlined string to see if they are constituents:
Calvin brought a really expensive ring.
Cleft:
I was going to the store
Pangur ate his tuna very quickly