syntax

In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes well-formed combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns with syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency), agreement, the nature of crosslinguistic variation, and the relationship between form and meaning (semantics). Diverse approaches, such as generative grammar and functional grammar, offer unique perspectives on syntax, reflecting its complexity and centrality to understanding human language.

AI overview

Syntax is the study of how words and smaller units of language combine to form phrases and sentences, with particular attention to word order, grammar, and sentence structure. Understanding syntax matters because it's central to how language works—it reveals the rules governing how we construct meaningful expressions and shows how these patterns vary across different languages.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Image: Syntax tree - Affirmation (1a).png

Show 3 more facts

Commons category: Syntax
Stack Exchange tag: linguistics.stackexchange.com/tags/syntax
P13411: Black hole

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Article

21 sections

Contents

Etymology
Topics
Sequencing of subject, verb, and object
Grammatical relations
Constituency
Early history
Theories
Theoretical syntactic models
Dependency grammar
Categorial grammar
Stochastic/probabilistic grammars/network theories
Functional grammars
Generative syntax
Cognitive and usage-based grammars
See also
Syntactic terms
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
External links

== Etymology == The word syntax comes from the ancient Greek word , meaning an orderly or systematic arrangement, which consists of (syn-, "together" or "alike"), and (táxis, "arrangement"). In Hellenistic Greek, this also specifically developed a use referring to the grammatical order of words, with a slightly altered spelling: . The English term, which first appeared in 1548, is partly borrowed from Latin () and Greek, though the Latin term developed from Greek.