Simple Sentence. Constituent Structure. Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations

1.

Simple Sentence.
Constituent Structure.
Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations
The simple sentence, as any sentence in general,
is organized as a system of function-expressing
positions, the parts are arranged in a hierarchy.
The
traditional scheme of sentence parsing
shows the functional hierarchy. On the scheme
presented graphically, sentence-parts connected
by domination are placed one under the other in
a successive order of subordination, while
sentence-parts
related
to
one
another
equipotently are placed in a horizontal order.
Direct connections between the sentence-parts
are represented by horizontal and vertical lines.

2.

Listened
predicate
The Lady
subject
Small
attribute
To me
object
Attentively
adverbial
The scheme clearly shows the basic logical-grammatical
connections of the notional constituents of the sentence.
Serious flaw
Exposing the subordination ranks of the parts of the
sentence, it fails to present its original linear order in
speech.

3.

This drawback is overcome in another
scheme of the analysis called the model
of immediate constituents (contractedly,
the IC-model).
The modal of immediate constituents is
based on the group-parsing of the
sentence. It consists in dividing the whole
of the sentence into two groups: that of
the subject and that of the predicate,
which in their turn, are divided into their
sub-groups according to the successive
subordination.

4.

On the upper level of analysis the
sentence is looked as a united whole (the
accepted symbol S); at the next level it is
divided into two maximal constituents –
the subject noun-phrase NP and the
predicate verb-phrase VP; at the next
lower level NP is divided into the
determiner (det) and the rest of the
phrase to which it semantically refers
(NP), while the predicate verb-phrase is
divided into the adverbial (D) and the
rest of the verb-phrase;

5.

the next level includes the division of the
NP into its attribute constituent (A) and
the
noun-constituent
(N),
and
correspondingly, the division of the VP into
its verb-constituent (V) and object nounphrase constituent (NP-obj), the latter
being, finally, divided into the preposition
constituent (prp) and noun constituent
(N).
The
described model of immediate
constituents has two basic versions.

6.

The first is knows as the “analytical
IC-diagram”, the second, as the “ICderivation tree”. The fist model
shows the groupings of sentence
constituents by means of vertical
and horizontal lines, the ICderivation tree shows the groupings
of sentence constituents by means
of branching nodes.

7.

Analytical IC-diagram
The Small Lady Listened To Me Attentively
det
A
N
NP
NP-subj
V
prp NPpro
VP
VP-pred
D

8. IC-derivation tree The small lady listened to me attentively.

S
NP
det
VP
NP
A
VP
N
V
D
VP
prp
N-pro

9.

When analyzing a sentence in terms of
syntagmatic connections of their parts, two
types of subordinative relations are
exposed: obligatory relations (The lady
listened to me) and obtional relations (the
attribute
small and the adverbial
attentively), which may or may not be
actually represented in the syntactic unit.
The
paradigmatic approach finds its
expression in a system of oppositions
making the corresponding meaningful
(functional) categories.

10.

Syntactic oppositions are realized by correlated
sentence patterns, by transformations.
For instance, a question can be described as
transformationally produced from a statement, a
negation – from an affirmation.
You are fond of the kid. – Are you fond of the
kid?
You’re fond of the kind. – You are not fond of the
kid.
Similarly, a composite sentence can be
presented as derived from two or more simple
sentences.
He turned to the waiter. + The waiter stood in
the door
– He turned to the waiter who stood in the door.