Constituent test

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Konstituententests (engl .: constituency tests ) are in linguistics, in particular in the structural linguistics developed methods for the detection of constituents , d. H. of word groups connected within a sentence.

These tests manipulate part of a sentence and use the resulting acceptability to check whether the manipulated part is a constituent. If the result is acceptable, it is considered a successful identification of a constituent. Common constituent tests are deletion, permutation, pronominalization, answer fragments, and coordination.

However, these tests must be used with caution as the results provided can contradict each other. The test member should only be considered a constituent if it has passed several of the tests. Passing just one test is not enough to mark a member as a constituent.

Constituent tests are to be distinguished from sentence member tests ( sentence member questions ), since not every constituent is a sentence member.

Methodologically, the tests depend on a judgment of the grammaticality and thus on the language competence of the test person. Some of them are therefore viewed as "not objective".

Permutation test (shift test)

Permutation generally refers to an exchange, a rearrangement, and in linguistics the rearrangement or shifting of words. For the purpose of determining constituents one speaks of the permutation test or also of the shift test . This (r) also serves as a sample of sentence parts in schools. Words that can be rearranged together without the sentence becoming ungrammatic are (perhaps) a constituent. Such constituents are usually parts of a sentence.

There are different permutation tests. Topicalization (preceding) is one of the most common. If a part of a sentence can be topicalized (= prefixed), it is perhaps a constituent. According to this test, parts of the sentence are constituents:

Fritz tried several times to read the text.
Fritz tried to read the text several times . - several times is perhaps a constituent.
Fritz tried several times to read the text. - tried is perhaps a constituent.
Fritz tried several times to read the text . - reading the text is perhaps a constituent element.
* Fritz tried to read the text several times. - reading is perhaps not a constituent.
* Fritz tried to read the text several times. - tried the text may not be a constituent.

Substitution test (substitute sample)

The substitution test ( substitute sample ) tests which closed partial chains of the sentence can be replaced by another expression without the sentence becoming ungrammatic.

General

  • Example:

[The great Chancellor] [climbs] [onto the pedestal]. [The new Federal President] [walks] [on the red carpet].

Variants of the substitution test are the pronounization test and the question test.

Question test

If a word or phrase can appear as an answer fragment, it may be a constituent in the original sentence.

Our children want to play in the forest after school.
Who wants to play in the woods after school? - Our children - our children is perhaps a constituent.
Whose children want to play in the forest after school? - Ours . - ours is perhaps a constituent.
Where do our children want to play after school? - In the woods . - maybe there is a constituent in the forest .
Which people who belong to us want to play in the forest after school? - * children . - Maybe children is not a constituent.
When in relation to school do the children want to play in the forest? - * After . - after may not be a constituent.
What are our children doing? - * Want to play in the woods after school . - want to play in the forest after school is perhaps not a constituent part.

Pronominalization test

With pronouns one tries to replace the test term with a definite pronoun (or another definite proform). If the result is acceptable, the test term may be a constituent:

Birger's sister writes her homework in the morning.
His sister writes her homework in the morning. - Birgers may be a constituent.
She writes her homework in the morning. - Birger's sister may be a constituent.
Birger's sister writes it in the morning. - your homework is maybe a constituent part.
* Birgers she only writes her homework in the morning. - Sister may not be a constituent.
* Birger's sister writes her in the morning. - Homework may not be a constituent part.

Elimination test (eradication test, omission test, swab test)

In the elimination test, one sentence is reduced to a minimum. What can be omitted together usually forms a constituent.

He wants to take a second course to improve his English.
He wants to take a course to improve his English. - the second is perhaps a constituent.
He wants to take a second course. - to improve your English is perhaps a constituent.
* He will take a second course to improve his English. - will perhaps no constituent.
* He wants to take to improve his English. - a second course may not be a constituent part.

This test is suitable for identifying statements as constituents. However, it suggests that many additions are not constituents, which contradicts most sentence analyzes.

Coordination test

A group of words is possibly a constituent if it can be coordinated (combined) with similar ones.

Hans doesn't want to know why that happened.
[ Hans ] and [Tanja] don't want to know why that happened. - Hans may be a constituent.
Hans [ wants ] and [cannot] know why that happened. - will perhaps be a constituent.
Hans cannot know [ why that happened ] and [when that happened]. - why that happened is perhaps a constituent element.

Although the coordination test is widely used, it is considered problematic because it recognizes many test items as constituents that cannot be confirmed as constituents by the other tests, e.g. B.

[ Hans wants ] and [Hans must] not know why that happened.
Fritz [ doesn't want ] but [has to] know why that happened.

These data suggest that Hans wants and does not want to have to be considered a constituent. Most sentence analyzes do not recognize these word combinations as constituents because they are not confirmed as constituents by the other tests.

Summary of the constituent tests

What can be concluded from the above examples is that the individual constituent tests are not reliable and that these tests must be used with caution. In this regard, it should also be noted that the above constituent tests were mostly developed for English. To what extent they provide insight into the sentence structures of other languages ​​is therefore questionable.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christa Dürscheid: Syntax. Basics and theories. 5th edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010 (UTB, 3319), ISBN 978-3-8385-3319-3 , p. 47.
  2. ^ So Christa Dürscheid: Syntax. Basics and theories. 5th edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010 (UTB, 3319), ISBN 978-3-8385-3319-3 , p. 53.
  3. ↑ Christa Dürscheid: Syntax. Basics and theories. 5th edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010 (UTB, 3319), ISBN 978-3-8385-3319-3 , p. 48 (without "maybe")