a technique sometimes used in teaching and in grammatical analysis in
which a sentence is analyzed into its main parts or constituents, hier-
archically arranged to show their relationship to each other. It results in a
description of a phrase, clause or sentence as one of a hierarchy of gram-
matical categories assigned to the linguistic units.
see constituent structureconstituent identificationn
see chunking
constituent structuren
another term for phrase structure
constraint n
a principle of universal grammar that prohibits certain types of gram-
matical operations from applying to certain types of structures.
constraintsn
see optimality theory
constrictionn constrictedadj
(in the production of speech sounds) the narrowing of any part of the
mouth or the throat (the vocal tract) to restrict the passage of the
airstream from the lungs.
see also manner of articulation
construal n
also conceptualization
the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the world
around them. In cognitive grammar, expressions differ in meaning
depending not only on the entities they designate but also the construals
employed to structure their conceived scenes. For example, a speaker may
choose to say my dador my father, Mary lives in Chicagoor Mary is living
in Chicago, based not on objective facts about the situation described but
the perspective from which a speaker chooses to view a scene.
constructn
a concept that is not observed directly but is inferred on the basis of observ-
able phenomena and that can help in the analysis and understanding of
events and phenomena. Examples of constructs used in the study of
language are roleand status.
constituent identification