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Understanding Constituency Tests in Linguistics

May 24, 2025

Lecture Notes on Constituency Tests in Linguistics

Introduction

  • Discussion of various phrases and tests for constituency:
    • Substitution/Replacement Test: Checks if a sequence of words is a constituent by replacing it with a single word or pro-form (e.g., pronouns, 'there', 'here', 'do so').
    • Displacement Test: Involves altering sentence order to place emphasis, indicate new/important information, or contrast. Used to test constituency by seeing if a sequence can be moved.

Displacement in Different Languages

  • Different languages use different displacement methods for emphasis or contrast.
  • Constraints on displacement vary by language.
  • If a sequence can be moved via displacement, it likely forms a constituent.

Topicalization or Fronting in English

  • Topicalization/Fronting: Moving a constituent to the front of a sentence for emphasis or contrast.
    • Example: "This book I've never read" (contrasting with previously mentioned novels).
    • Fronting can involve noun phrases (NPs), prepositional phrases (PPs), adjective phrases (Adj Phrases), and non-finite verb phrases (VPs).

Examples of Fronting

  • Noun Phrases (NPs): "That novel by Hemingway she read" indicates "that novel by Hemingway" is a constituent.
  • Prepositional Phrases (PPs): "In the garden my sister was reading" shows "in the garden" is a constituent.
  • Adjective Phrases (Adj Phrases): "Extremely expensive it is" confirms "extremely expensive" is a constituent.
  • Verb Phrases (VPs): "Leave home she will" demonstrates fronting of non-finite VPs.

WH-Questions as a Constituency Test

  • WH-Questions: Combine replacement and displacement, replacing a constituent with a WH-word and moving it to the sentence's start.
  • Examples:
    • "What did John eat?" tests constituency of "a sandwich of wholemeal bread".
    • Adjective phrase: "What is Miriam?" tests "incredibly tall".
    • Prepositional phrase: "When did she go to that city?" tests "in that year".

Summary of Testing Methods

  • Prepositional phrases can be tested using words like "then" (temporal) and "there/where" (locative).
  • Verb phrases tested with "do so" and WH-questions (e.g., "What will Beatric do?").

Conclusion

  • Constituency tests like replacement, displacement, and WH-questions help linguists determine the structure and function of phrases within sentences.
  • Understanding these tests is crucial for grammatical analysis and understanding language structure.

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