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In linguistics, immediate constituent analysis or IC analysis is a method of sentence analysis that was first mentioned by Leonard Bloomfield[1] and developed further by Rulon Wells.[2] The process reached a full-blown strategy for analyzing sentence structure in the early works of Noam Chomsky.[3] The practice is now widespread. Most tree structures employed to represent the syntactic structure of sentences are products of some form of IC-analysis. The process and result of IC-analysis can, however, vary greatly based upon whether one chooses the constituency relation of phrase structure grammars (= constituency grammars) or the dependency relation of dependency grammars as the underlying principle that organizes constituents into hierarchical structures.
IC-analysis in phrase structure grammars[edit]
Given a phrase structure grammar (= constituency grammar), IC-analysis divides up a sentence into major parts or immediate constituents, and these constituents are in turn divided into further immediate constituents.[4] The process continues until irreducible constituents are reached, i.e., until each constituent consists of only a word or a meaningful part of a word. The end result of IC-analysis is often presented in a visual diagrammatic form that reveals the hierarchical immediate constituent structure of the sentence at hand. These diagrams are usually trees. For example:
This tree illustrates the manner in which the entire sentence is divided first into the two immediate constituents this tree and illustrates IC-analysis according to the constituency relation; these two constituents are further divided into the immediate constituents this and tree, and illustrates IC-analysis and according to the constituency relation; and so on.
An important aspect of IC-analysis in phrase structure grammars is that each individual word is a constituent by definition. The process of IC-analysis always ends when the smallest constituents are reached, which are often words (although the analysis can also be extended into the words to acknowledge the manner in which words are structured). The process is, however, different in dependency grammars, since many individual words do not end up as constituents in dependency grammars.
IC-analysis in dependency grammars[edit]
As a rule, dependency grammars do not employ IC-analysis, as the principle of syntactic ordering is not inclusion but, rather, asymmetrical dominance-dependency between words. When an attempt is made to incorporate IC-analysis into a dependency-type grammar, the results are some kind of a hybrid system. In actuality, IC-analysis is different in dependency grammars.[5] Since dependency grammars view the finite verb as the root of all sentence structure, they cannot and do not acknowledge the initial binary subject-predicate division of the clause associated with phrase structure grammars. What this means for the general understanding of constituent structure is that dependency grammars do not acknowledge a finite verb phrase (VP) constituent and many individual words also do not qualify as constituents, which means in turn that they will not show up as constituents in the IC-analysis. Thus in the example sentence This tree illustrates IC-analysis according to the dependency relation, many of the phrase structure grammar constituents do not qualify as dependency grammar constituents:
This IC-analysis does not view the finite verb phrase illustrates IC-analysis according to the dependency relation nor the individual words tree, illustrates, according, to, and relation as constituents.
While the structures that IC-analysis identifies for dependency and constituency grammars differ in significant ways, as the two trees just produced illustrate, both views of sentence structure acknowledge constituents. The constituent is defined in a theory-neutral manner:
-
- Constituent
- A given word/node plus all the words/nodes that that word/node dominates
This definition is neutral with respect to the dependency vs. constituency distinction. It allows one to compare the IC-analyses across the two types of structure. A constituent is always a complete tree or a complete subtree of a tree, regardless of whether the tree at hand is a constituency or a dependency tree.
Constituency tests[edit]
The IC-analysis for a given sentence is arrived at usually by way of constituency tests. Constituency tests (e.g. topicalization, clefting, pseudoclefting, pro-form substitution, answer ellipsis, passivization, omission, coordination, etc.) identify the constituents, large and small, of English sentences. Two illustrations of the manner in which constituency tests deliver clues about constituent structure and thus about the correct IC-analysis of a given sentence are now given. Consider the phrase The girl in the following trees:
The acronym BPS stands for «bare phrase structure», which is an indication that the words are used as the node labels in the tree. Again, focusing on the phrase The girl, the tests unanimously confirm that it is a constituent as both trees show:
-
- …the girl is happy — Topicalization (invalid test because test constituent is already at front of sentence)
- It is the girl who is happy. — Clefting
- (The one)Who is happy is the girl. — Pseudoclefting
- She is happy. — Pro-form substitution
- Who is happy? —The girl. — Answer ellipsis
Based on these results, one can safely assume that the noun phrase The girl in the example sentence is a constituent and should therefore be shown as one in the corresponding IC-representation, which it is in both trees. Consider next what these tests tell us about the verb string is happy:
-
- *…is happy, the girl. — Topicalization
- *It is is happy that the girl. — Clefting
- *What the girl is is happy. — Pseudoclefting
- *The girl so/that/did that. — Pro-form substitution
- What is the girl? -*Is happy. — Answer ellipsis
The star * indicates that the sentence is not acceptable English. Based on data like these, one might conclude that the finite verb string is happy in the example sentence is not a constituent and should therefore not be shown as a constituent in the corresponding IC-representation. Hence this result supports the IC-analysis in the dependency tree over the one in the constituency tree, since the dependency tree does not view is happy as a constituent.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Concerning Bloomfield’s understanding of IC analysis, see Bloomfield (1933:161).
- ^ Concerning Well’s comprehensive discussion of IC analysis, see Wells (1947).
- ^ For Chomsky’s early understanding of immediate constituents, see Chomsky (1957).
- ^ The basic concept of immediate constituents is widely employed in phrase structure grammars. See for instance Akmajian and Heny (1980:64), Chisholm (1981:59), Culicover (1982:21), Huddleston (1988:7), Haegeman and Guéron (1999:51).
- ^ Concerning dependency grammars, see Ágel et al. (2003/6).
References[edit]
- Akmajian, A. and F. Heny. 1980. An introduction to the principles of transformational syntax. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
- Ágel, V., L. Eichinger, H.-W. Eroms, P. Hellwig, H. Heringer, and H. Lobin (eds.) 2003/6. Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
- Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New York: Henry Holt ISBN 0-226-06067-5, ISBN 90-272-1892-7
- Chisholm, W. 1981. Elements of English linguistics. New York: Longman.
- Culicover, P. 1982. Syntax, 2nd edition. New York: Academic Press.
- Chomsky, Noam 1957. Syntactic Structures. The Hague/Paris: Mouton.
- Haegeman, L. and J. Guéron. 1999. English grammar: A generative perspective. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.
- Huddleston, R. 1988. English grammar: An outline. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Wells, Rulon S. 1947. «Immediate Constituents.» Language: 23. pp. 81–117.
External links[edit]
- Immediate constituent analysis On the Historical Source of Immediate-Constituent Analysis by W. Keith Percival
Immediate constituent analysis:this is used in English and other languages
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The theory of Immediate
Constituents (IC) was originally elaborated as an attempt to
determine the ways in which lexical units are relevantly related to
one another. It was discovered that combinations of such units are
usually structured into
1See
also ‘Various Aspects …’,
§ 12, p.
195,
2 See
‘Semasiology’, §§
37, 38, pp.
43,
44.
245
hierarchically
arranged sets of binary constructions. For example in the word-group
a
black dress in severe style we
do not relate a
to
black,
black to dress, dress to
in,
etc.
but set up a structure which may be represented as a
black dress /
in
severe style. Thus
the fundamental aim of IC analysis is to segment a set of lexical
units into two maximally independent sequences or ICs thus revealing
the hierarchical structure of this set. Successive segmentation
results in Ultimate Constituents (UC), i.e. two-facet units that
cannot be segmented into smaller units having both sound-form and
meaning. The Ultimate Constituents of the word-group analysed above
are: a
|
black
| dress | in | severe |
style.
The
meaning of the sentence, word-group, etc. and the IC binary
segmentation are interdependent. For example, fat
major’s wife may
mean that either ‘the major is fat’ or ‘his wife is fat’. The
former semantic interpretation presupposes the IC analysis into fat
major’s | wife, whereas
the latter reflects a different segmentation into IC’s and namely
fat
|
major’s
wife.
It
must
be admitted that this kind of analysis is arrived at by reference to
intuition and it should be regarded as an attempt to formalise one’s
semantic intuition.
It
is mainly to discover the derivational structure of words that IC
analysis is used in lexicological investigations. For example, the
verb denationalise
has
both a prefix de-
and
a suffix -ise
(-ize). To
decide whether this word is a prefixal or a suffixal derivative we
must apply IC analysis.1
The binary segmentation of the string of morphemes making up the word
shows that *denation
or
*denational
cannot
be considered independent sequences as there is no direct link
between the prefix de-
and
nation
or
national.
In
fact no such sound-forms function as independent units in modern
English. The only possible binary segmentation is de
|
nationalise,
therefore
we may conclude that the word is a prefixal derivative. There are
also numerous cases when identical morphemic structure of different
words is insufficient proof of the identical pattern of their
derivative structure which can be revealed only by IC analysis. Thus,
comparing, e.g., snow-covered
and
blue-eyed
we
observe that both words contain two root-morphemes and one
derivational morpheme. IC analysis, however, shows that whereas
snow-covered
may
be treated as a compound consisting of two stems snow
+
covered,
blue-eyed is
a suffixal derivative as the underlying structure as shown by IC
analysis is different, i.e. (blue+eye)+-ed.
It
may be inferred from the examples discussed above that ICs represent
the word-formation structure while the UCs show the morphemic
structure of polymorphic words.
В лингвистике, немедленный составляющий анализ или анализ IC — это метод анализа предложений, который впервые был упомянут Леонард Блумфилд и развит Рулоном Уэллсом. Процесс достиг полноценной стратегии анализа структуры предложений в ранних работах Ноама Хомского. Сейчас такая практика широко распространена. Большинство древовидных структур, используемых для представления синтаксической структуры предложений, являются продуктами некоторой формы IC-анализа. Однако процесс и результат IC-анализа могут сильно различаться в зависимости от того, выбирается ли отношение контингента для грамматик структуры фраз (= грамматик составляющего округа) или отношение зависимости грамматик зависимости как основополагающий принцип, который организует составляющих в иерархические структуры.
Содержание
- 1 IC-анализ в грамматиках структуры фраз
- 2 IC-анализ в грамматиках зависимостей
- 3 Тесты группы интересов
- 4 Примечания
- 5 Ссылки
- 6 Внешние ссылки
IC-анализ в грамматиках структуры фраз
Учитывая грамматику структуры фраз (= грамматика избирательного округа), IC-анализ разделяет предложение на основные части или непосредственные составляющие, и эти составляющие, в свою очередь, разделен на другие непосредственные составляющие. Процесс продолжается до тех пор, пока не будут достигнуты несводимые составляющие, т.е. пока каждая составляющая не будет состоять только из слова или значимой части слова. Конечный результат IC-анализа часто представляется в визуальной диаграммной форме, которая раскрывает иерархическую непосредственную составную структуру рассматриваемого предложения. Эти диаграммы обычно представляют собой деревья. Например:
Это дерево иллюстрирует способ, которым все предложение сначала делится на две непосредственные составляющие этого дерева, и иллюстрирует IC-анализ в соответствии с отношением избирательного округа; эти две составляющие далее делятся на непосредственные составляющие this и tree, и иллюстрируют IC-анализ и в соответствии с отношением электората; и так далее.
Важным аспектом IC-анализа грамматик структуры фраз является то, что каждое отдельное слово по определению является составной частью. Процесс IC-анализа всегда заканчивается, когда достигаются мельчайшие составляющие, которые часто являются словами (хотя анализ также может быть расширен до слов, чтобы понять, каким образом слова структурированы). Однако в грамматиках зависимостей этот процесс сильно отличается, поскольку многие отдельные слова не становятся составными частями в грамматиках зависимостей.
IC-анализ в грамматиках зависимостей
Как правило, грамматики зависимостей не используют IC-анализ, поскольку принцип синтаксического упорядочения — это не включение, а, скорее, асимметричное доминирование-зависимость между словами. Когда делается попытка включить IC-анализ в грамматику типа зависимости, результаты представляют собой своего рода гибридную систему. На самом деле IC-анализ сильно отличается от грамматик зависимостей. Поскольку грамматики зависимостей рассматривают конечный глагол как корень всей структуры предложения, они не могут и не подтверждают первоначальное двоичное разделение subject — предикат предложения, связанное с грамматиками структуры фраз. Для общего понимания составной структуры это означает, что грамматики зависимостей не признают составную часть конечной глагольной фразы (VP), и многие отдельные слова также не квалифицируются как составные, что, в свою очередь, означает, что они не будут отображаются как составляющие в IC-анализе. Таким образом, в примере предложения Это дерево иллюстрирует IC-анализ в соответствии с отношением зависимости, многие из составляющих грамматики структуры фразы не квалифицируются как составляющие грамматики зависимости:
Этот IC-анализ не рассматривает конечную глагольную фразу, иллюстрирующую IC-анализ в соответствии с отношением зависимости или деревом отдельных слов, иллюстрирует, согласно, и отношение как составные части.
В то время как структуры, которые IC-анализ определяет для грамматик зависимостей и контингентов, существенно различаются, как показывают два только что созданных дерева, оба представления структуры предложения признают составляющие. Составляющая определяется теоретически нейтральным образом:
-
- Составляющая
- Заданное слово / узел плюс все слова / узлы, над которыми это слово / узел доминирует
Это определение нейтрально по отношению к зависимости и контингенту различие. Это позволяет сравнивать IC-анализы двух типов структур. Составляющая — это всегда полное дерево или полное поддерево дерева, независимо от того, является ли данное дерево составной частью или деревом зависимостей.
Тесты избирательных округов
IC-анализ для данного предложения обычно достигается посредством тестов избирательных округов. Тесты констант (например, актуализация, расщепление, псевдослефтинг, проформная замена, многоточие в ответах, пассивизация, упущение, координация и т. Д.) определить составные части английских предложений, большие и маленькие. Теперь даны две иллюстрации того, как тесты контингента дают ключи к составной структуре и, таким образом, к правильному IC-анализу данного предложения. Рассмотрим фразу «Девушка» в следующих деревьях:
Акроним BPS означает «голая структура фразы», что указывает на то, что слова используются в качестве меток узлов в дереве. Опять же, сосредотачиваясь на фразе Девушка, тесты единогласно подтверждают, что она является составной частью, как показывают оба дерева:
-
- … девушка счастлива — Актуализация (неверный тест, потому что тестовая составляющая уже стоит перед предложением)
- Это девушка, которая счастлива. — Расщепление
- (Тот), Кто счастлив, — это девушка . — Псевдоклефтинг
- Она счастлива. — Проформа замещения
- Кто счастлив? — Девушка . — Ответ с многоточием
На основании этих результатов можно с уверенностью предположить, что именная фраза Девушка в примере предложения является составной частью и, следовательно, должна отображаться как единое целое в соответствующем IC-представлении, которое есть в обоих деревья. Рассмотрим далее, что эти тесты говорят нам о строке глагола «счастлива»:
-
- *… счастлив, девочка. — Актуализация
- * рада, что девушка. — Расщепление
- * Что за девушка счастлива . — Псевдоклефтинг
- * Девушка так / то / сделала то . — Проформа подстановки
- Что за девушка? — * Рада . — Ответ с многоточием
Звездочка * указывает, что предложение не является приемлемым для английского языка. Основываясь на данных, подобных этим, можно сделать вывод, что конечная строка глагола счастлива в примере предложения не является составной частью и, следовательно, не должна отображаться как составная часть в соответствующем IC-представлении. Следовательно, этот результат поддерживает IC-анализ в дереве зависимостей по сравнению с анализом в дереве постоянных групп, поскольку дерево зависимостей не видит счастья как составной части.
Примечания
Ссылки
- Акмаджян А. и Ф. Хени. 1980. Введение в принцип трансформационного синтаксиса. Кембридж, Массачусетс: The MIT Press.
- Ágel, V., L. Eichinger, H.-W. Эромс, П. Хеллвиг, Х. Герингер и Х. Лобин (ред.) 2003/6. Зависимость и валентность: международный справочник современных исследований. Берлин: Вальтер де Грюйтер.
- Блумфилд, Леонард. 1933. Язык. Нью-Йорк: Генри Холт ISBN 0-226-06067-5, ISBN 90-272-1892-7
- Чисхолм, В. 1981. Элементы Английская лингвистика. Нью-Йорк: Longman.
- Culicover, P. 1982. Syntax, 2nd edition. Нью-Йорк: Academic Press.
- Хомский, Ноам, 1957. Синтаксические структуры. Гаага / Париж: Mouton.
- Haegeman, L. и J. Guéron. 1999. Английская грамматика: генеративная перспектива. Оксфорд, Великобритания: Blackwell Publishers.
- Хаддлстон, Р. 1988. Грамматика английского языка: план. Кембридж, Великобритания: Cambridge University Press.
- Wells, Rulon S. 1947. «Непосредственные составляющие». Язык: 23. стр. 81–117.
Внешние ссылки
- Анализ непосредственных составляющих Об историческом источнике анализа непосредственных составляющих У. Кейт Персиваль
Анализ непосредственных составляющих: это используется на английском и других языках
Immediate constituent analysis : A method in Grammatical analysis
In linguistics, immediate constituent analysis or IC analysis is a method of sentence analysis that was first mentioned by Leonard Bloomfield, and developed further by Rulon Wells. The process reached a full blown strategy for analyzing sentence structure in the early works of Noam Chomsky.The practice is now widespread. Most tree structures employed to represent the syntactic structure of sentences are products of some form of IC-analysis. The process and result of IC-analysis can, however, vary greatly based upon whether one chooses the constituency relation of phrase structure grammars (= constituency grammars) or the dependency relation of dependency grammars as the underlying principle that organizes constituents into hierarchical structures.
IC-analysis in phrase structure grammars
Given a phrase structure grammar (= constituency grammar), IC-analysis divides up a sentence into major parts or immediate constituents, and these constituents are in turn divided into further immediate constituents. The process continues until irreducible constituents are reached, i.e., until each constituent consists of only a word or a meaningful part of a word. The end result of IC-analysis is often presented in a visual diagrammatic form that reveals the hierarchical immediate constituent structure of the sentence at hand. These diagrams are usually trees. For example:
This tree illustrates the manner in which the entire sentence is divided first into the two immediate constituents this tree and illustrates IC-analysis according to the constituency relation; these two constituents are further divided into the immediate constituents this and tree, and illustrates IC-analysis and according to the constituency relation; and so on.
An important aspect of IC-analysis in phrase structure grammars is that each individual word is a constituent by definition. The process of IC-analysis always ends when the smallest constituents are reached, which are often words (although the analysis can also be extended into the words to acknowledge the manner in which words are structured). The process is, however, much different in dependency grammars, since many individual words do not end up as constituents in dependency grammars.
Illustration:
1 . Un gentlemanly
This will be broken down into un-gentlemanly —-> un- gentleman-ly —-> un-gentle-man-ly—–> un-gentl-e-man-ly
un + { [(gentle- + le ) + man ] + -ly
As we break the word we obtain at any level only two immediate constituents (IC)s, one of which is the stem of any given word.
Constituent
A given word/node plus all the words/nodes that that word/node dominates
This definition is neutral with respect to the dependency vs. constituency distinction. It allows one to compare the IC-analyses across the two types of structure. A constituent is always a complete tree or a complete subtree of a tree, regardless of whether the tree at hand is a constituency or a dependency tree.
Constituency tests
The IC-analysis for a given sentence is arrived at usually by way of constituency tests. Constituency tests (e.g. topicalization, clefting, pseudoclefting, pro-form substitution, answer ellipsis, passivization, omission, coordination, etc.) identify the constituents, large and small, of English sentences. Two illustrations of the manner in which constituency tests deliver clues about constituent structure and thus about the correct IC-analysis of a given sentence are now given. Consider the phrase The girl in the following trees:
The acronym BPS stands for “bare phrase structure”, which is an indication that the words are used as the node labels in the tree. Again, focusing on the phrase The girl, the tests unanimously confirm that it is a constituent as both trees show:
…the girl is happy – Topicalization (invalid test because test constituent is already at front of sentence)
It is the girl who is happy. – Clefting
(The one)Who is happy is the girl. – Pseudoclefting
She is happy. – Pro-form substitution
Who is happy? -The girl. – Answer ellipsis
Based on these results, one can safely assume that the noun phrase The girl in the example sentence is a constituent and should therefore be shown as one in the corresponding IC-representation, which it is in both trees. Consider next what these tests tell us about the verb string is happy:
*…is happy, the girl. – Topicalization
*It is is happy that the girl. – Clefting
*What the girl is is happy. – Pseudoclefting
*The girl so/that/did that. – Pro-form substitution
What is the girl? -*Is happy. – Answer ellipsis
The star * indicates that the sentence is bad (i.e. it is not acceptable English). Based on data like these, one might conclude that the finite verb string is happy in the example sentence is not a constituent and should therefore not be shown as a constituent in the corresponding IC-representation. Hence this result supports the IC-analysis in the dependency tree over the one in the constituency tree, since the dependency tree does not view is happy as a constituent.
In summary:
Immediate constituent analysis is a form of linguistic review that breaks down longer phrases or sentences into their constituent parts, usually into single words. This kind of analysis is sometimes abbreviated as IC analysis, and gets used extensively by a wide range of language experts. This kind of exploration of language has applications for both societal or traditional linguistics, and natural language processing in technology fields.
For those who use this kind of analysis to examine text or speech, immediate constituent analysis often requires separating parts of a sentence or phrase into groups of words with semantical synergy or related meaning. For example, the sentence, “the car is fast,” could be broken down into two groups of words: “the car” and “is fast.” In this case, the first group contains an article applied to a noun, and the second group contains a verb followed by a defining adjective.
Many kinds of immediate constituent analysis include multi-step processing. For the example above, the two groups of words could be split up further into individual words. Reviewers might consider how the article “the” applies to the word “car,” for instance, in specifying one particular car, and how the adjective “fast” describes the verb “is,” in this case, in a simple, rather than a comparative or superlative sense.
References
Akmajian, A. and F. Heny. 1980. An introduction to the principle of transformational syntax. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Ágel, V., L. Eichinger, H.-W. Eroms, P. Hellwig, H. Heringer, and H. Lobin (eds.) 2003/6. Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Bloomfield, Leonard. 1933. Language. New York: Henry Holt ISBN 0-226-06067-5, ISBN 90-272-1892-7