Syntax

From Canonica AI

Introduction

Syntax is a fundamental concept in the field of linguistics. It refers to the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in a given language. The term syntax is also used to denote the study of such principles and processes. The word syntax comes from Ancient Greek: σύνταξις "coordination", which consists of σύν syn, "together," and τάξις táxis, "an ordering".

A close-up shot of a book page with the word "Syntax" highlighted.
A close-up shot of a book page with the word "Syntax" highlighted.

Historical Overview

The study of syntax has a long history. The earliest known treatise on syntax was written by the Indian grammarian Pāṇini, who composed the Aṣṭādhyāyī in the 4th century BCE. In the Western tradition, the study of syntax was first formalized by ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle.

Principles of Syntax

Syntax is guided by a number of principles. These principles are largely universal across languages, although there is a great deal of variation in how they are applied.

Constituency

Constituency is the principle that words and phrases in a sentence are grouped together in some way, forming constituents. This is often represented through syntax trees.

Dependence

Dependence is the principle that the function of a word or phrase in a sentence is determined by its relations to other words or phrases. This is often represented through dependency grammars.

Recursion

Recursion is the principle that phrases can contain smaller phrases of the same type, allowing sentences to be indefinitely long and complex.

Syntactic Theories

There are several major theories of syntax, each with its own approach to describing the structure of sentences.

Generative Grammar

Generative grammar, most notably associated with Noam Chomsky, posits that our linguistic abilities arise from a set of innate mental structures. Within generative grammar, there are several different approaches, including transformational grammar, government and binding theory, and minimalism.

Dependency Grammar

Dependency grammar is a framework in which syntactic units, called syntactic atoms, are connected to each other by directed links. The most prominent dependency grammars are Lucien Tesnière's structural syntax and Igor Mel'čuk's Meaning-Text Theory.

Categorial Grammar

Categorial grammar is a type of phrase structure grammar where function application is the only rule of syntax. This makes the syntax highly flexible, as any argument can be an input or an output.

Syntax in Computer Science

In computer science, syntax refers to the set of rules that define the combinations of symbols that are considered to be correctly structured programs in a programming language. The syntax of a language defines its surface form. Text-based computer languages are based on sequences of characters, while visual programming languages are based on symbols, visual relationships, and hierarchies.

See Also