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9 - Phrase Structure

from Part III - Filler–Slot Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2019

Holger Diessel
Affiliation:
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany
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Summary

Constituent structure is commonly represented in phrase structure trees, which one might analyze as some kind of network. However, while phrase structure graphs are useful to explain certain aspects of syntactic structure, they are not fully compatible with the dynamic network approach, as these graphs are built from primitive concepts. Challenging the traditional approach, Chapter 9 outlines a dynamic network analysis of constituency in which the hierarchical organization of linguistic structure is emergent from the interaction of several domain-general processes, including conceptualization, automatization, analogy and abstraction, which together account for both the syntactic generalizations that have been in the focus of formal syntax and the many idiosyncracies that reflect the influence of speakers’ experience with particular constructions. The proposed analysis casts a fresh light on syntactic constituency and has far-reaching implications for the theory of phrase structure and the analysis of word order correlations.

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Chapter
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The Grammar Network
How Linguistic Structure Is Shaped by Language Use
, pp. 172 - 196
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Phrase Structure
  • Holger Diessel, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany
  • Book: The Grammar Network
  • Online publication: 12 August 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108671040.009
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  • Phrase Structure
  • Holger Diessel, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany
  • Book: The Grammar Network
  • Online publication: 12 August 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108671040.009
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Phrase Structure
  • Holger Diessel, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany
  • Book: The Grammar Network
  • Online publication: 12 August 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108671040.009
Available formats
×