syntax

n. Syntax is the component of a language's grammar that licenses sentence structure, by means of a set of principles that generate the set of well-formed sentences in that language. Syntactic relationships between words in sentences are not simply linear (in a sentence like Augustine dates Beatrice, the subject Augustine precedes the verb dates, which precedes the object Beatrice). Instead, syntactic relationships are hierarchical: the two adjacent words dates Beatrice are related in a way that Augustine dates are not. The syntax of a language plays three fundamental roles in determining the structural relations between words. First, by the application of phrase structure rules, the syntax generates basic sentence structures consisting of a subject (noun phrase) and a predicate (verb phrase), as well as any obligatory heads (e.g., nouns or verbs) plus any obligatory or optional arguments (e.g., direct object noun phrases or prepositional phrases). Second, basic sentence structures are combined by the syntax to create complex sentences containing subordinate clauses, such as sentences with relative clauses (I know Augustine, who dates Beatrice) or with sentential complements (I know that Augustine will date Beatrice). Third, the syntax contains principles which license the movement of constituents within sentences, to obtain constructions such as questions (Who does Augustine date?). – EMF

▶ See also DEEP STRUCTURE