4.2.2 Immediate Constituents Analysis

4.2.2 Immediate Constituents

Review and lead-in Questions for Lead-in: What are the linear and hierarchical structure of the sentence ? 1.Linear structure of the sentence e.g. Mary(suject) ate (verb) an apple(object). 2. Hierarchical structure of the sentence: layers of word groups

The definition of immediate constituents Immediate constituents are constituents immediately, directly, below the level of a construction, which may be a sentence like Poor John ran away or a word group like Poor John. Theoretically speaking, the construction may also be a word. A word may also be analyzed into its immediate constituents. The analysis of a sentence in terms of its immediate constituents is immediate constituent analysis, IC analysis for short.

Patterns of immediate constituents

1. bracketing(((Poor) (John ))((ran)(away))).

2. tree diagram

Question: where to make the cuts? The criterion is substitutability: whether a sequence of words can be substituted for a single word and the structure remains the same. E.g Poor John ran away.

Its advantages 1. It shows the internal structure of a construction. 2. It can analyze some ambiguities, if any.

Its problems 1. It is not always possible for binary divisions. 2. There are structural ambiguities which cannot be revealed by immediate constituent analysis.

Summary and assignment Summary: Immediate constituents ( definition, use, patterns, advantages and problems) Assignment: P 157, 3-5