Catena (linguistics)
Encyclopedia
The catena is a unit of syntax
and morphology
. The unit is closely associated with dependency grammars
. It is a more flexible and inclusive unit than the constituent
and may therefore be better suited than the constituent to serve as the fundamental unit of syntax and morphosyntax. The catena concept was introduced to linguistics by William O'Grady in 1998 and has been seized upon by others and applied to the syntax of ellipsis mechanisms (e.g. gapping
, stripping, VP-ellipsis
, pseudogapping, sluicing
, answer fragments, comparative deletion) and to the syntax of predicate
-argument
structures.
Catena
Any element (word or morph) or any combination of elements that are continuous in the vertical dimension (y-axis)
or subtree of a tree is a catena. In this regard, every constituent
is a catena, but there are many catenae that are not constituents. The constituent is therefore a subtype of catena. Any individual element (word or morph) or combination of elements linked together in the vertical dimension is a catena. Sentence structure is conceived of as existing in two dimensions. Combinations organized along the horizontal dimension (in terms of precedence) are called strings, whereas combinations organized along the vertical dimension (in terms of dominance) are catenae. In terms of a cartesian coordinate system
, strings exists along the x-axis, and catenae along the y-axis.
A component is complete if it includes all the elements that its root node dominates. The string and catena complement each other in an obvious way, and the definition of the constituent is essentially the same as one finds in most theories of syntax, where a constituent is understood to consist of any node plus all the nodes that that node dominates. These definitions will now be illustrated with the help of the following dependency tree. The capital letters serve to abbreviate the words:
All of the distinct strings, catenae, components, and constituents in this tree contains 24 distinct strings, all of which are listed here:
Noteworthy is the fact that the tree contains 39 distinct word combinations that are not catenae, e.g. AC, BD, CE, BCE, ADF, ABEF, ABDEF, etc. Observe as well that there are are a mere six constituents, but 24 catena. There are therefore four times more catenae in the tree than there are constituents. The inclusivity and flexibility of the catena unit becomes apparent. The following Venn diagram provides an overview of how the four units relate to each other:
While all four units are important, the discussion below focuses most directly on the catena.
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and morphology
Morphology
Morphology may mean:*Morphology , the study of the structure and content of word forms*Morphology , the study of the form or shape of an organism or part thereof...
. The unit is closely associated with dependency grammars
Dependency grammar
Dependency grammar is a class of modern syntactic theories that are all based on the dependency relation and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesnière. Dependency grammars are distinct from phrase structure grammars , since they lack phrasal nodes. Structure is determined by...
. It is a more flexible and inclusive unit than the constituent
Constituent
-In politics:*Electoral district or constituency*Constituent , an individual voter within an electoral constituency*Interest group or constituency*Constituent assembly*entity forming part of a sovereign state:**Constituent state**Constituent country...
and may therefore be better suited than the constituent to serve as the fundamental unit of syntax and morphosyntax. The catena concept was introduced to linguistics by William O'Grady in 1998 and has been seized upon by others and applied to the syntax of ellipsis mechanisms (e.g. gapping
Gapping
Gapping is a term in linguistics that refers to clauses in which all verbal elements have been omitted, but in which internal arguments of the verb remain...
, stripping, VP-ellipsis
Verb Phrase Ellipsis
In linguistics, verb phrase ellipsis is an elliptical construction in which a verb phrase has been left out . Examples of verb phrase ellipses in English include:...
, pseudogapping, sluicing
Sluicing
In syntax, a sluicing construction is one in which the sentential part of an interrogative clause is elided; this typically occurs only in constituent questions...
, answer fragments, comparative deletion) and to the syntax of predicate
Predicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
-argument
Verb argument
In linguistics, a verb argument is a phrase that appears in a syntactic relationship with the verb in a clause. In English, for example, the two most important arguments are the subject and the direct object....
structures.
Definition
The catena is defined as follows:Catena
Any element (word or morph) or any combination of elements that are continuous in the vertical dimension (y-axis)
Graph-theoretic definition
In terms of graph theory, any syntactic treeTree (graph theory)
In mathematics, more specifically graph theory, a tree is an undirected graph in which any two vertices are connected by exactly one simple path. In other words, any connected graph without cycles is a tree...
or subtree of a tree is a catena. In this regard, every constituent
Constituent
-In politics:*Electoral district or constituency*Constituent , an individual voter within an electoral constituency*Interest group or constituency*Constituent assembly*entity forming part of a sovereign state:**Constituent state**Constituent country...
is a catena, but there are many catenae that are not constituents. The constituent is therefore a subtype of catena. Any individual element (word or morph) or combination of elements linked together in the vertical dimension is a catena. Sentence structure is conceived of as existing in two dimensions. Combinations organized along the horizontal dimension (in terms of precedence) are called strings, whereas combinations organized along the vertical dimension (in terms of dominance) are catenae. In terms of a cartesian coordinate system
Cartesian coordinate system
A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...
, strings exists along the x-axis, and catenae along the y-axis.
Four units
An understanding of the catena is established by distinguishing between catena and the other, similarly defined units. There are four units (including the catena) that are pertinent in this regard: string, catena, component, and constituent. The definition of the catena is repeated for easy comparison with the definitions of the other three units:-
- String
- Any element (word or morph) or any combinations of elements that is continuous in the horizontal dimension (x-axis)
- String
-
- Catena
- Any element (word or morph) or any combination of elements that is continuous in the vertical dimension (y-axis)
- Catena
-
- Component
- Any element (word or morph) or any combination of elements that is both a string and a catena
- Component
-
- Constituent
- Any component that is complete
- Constituent
A component is complete if it includes all the elements that its root node dominates. The string and catena complement each other in an obvious way, and the definition of the constituent is essentially the same as one finds in most theories of syntax, where a constituent is understood to consist of any node plus all the nodes that that node dominates. These definitions will now be illustrated with the help of the following dependency tree. The capital letters serve to abbreviate the words:
All of the distinct strings, catenae, components, and constituents in this tree contains 24 distinct strings, all of which are listed here:
-
- 21 distinct strings
- A, B, C, D, E, F, AB, BC, CD, DE, EF, ABC, BCD, CDE, DEF, ABCD, BCDE, CDEF, ABCDE,BCDEF, and ABCDEF
- 21 distinct strings
-
- 24 distinct catenae
- A, B, C, D, E, F, AB, BC, CF, DF, EF, ABC, BCF, CDF, CEF, DEF, ABCF, BCDF, BCEF, CDEF, ABCDF, ABCEF, BCDEF, and ABCDEF.
- 24 distinct catenae
-
- 14 distinct components
- A, B, C, D, E, F, AB, BC, EF, ABC, DEF, CDEF, BCDEF, and ABCDEF
- 14 distinct components
-
- 6 distinct constituents
- A, D, E, AB, DEF, ABCDEF
- 6 distinct constituents
Noteworthy is the fact that the tree contains 39 distinct word combinations that are not catenae, e.g. AC, BD, CE, BCE, ADF, ABEF, ABDEF, etc. Observe as well that there are are a mere six constituents, but 24 catena. There are therefore four times more catenae in the tree than there are constituents. The inclusivity and flexibility of the catena unit becomes apparent. The following Venn diagram provides an overview of how the four units relate to each other:
While all four units are important, the discussion below focuses most directly on the catena.