English
syntax
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈsɪn.tæks/
Noun

syntax

  1. A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences.
    •   The incorporation of a rule of V MOVEMENT into our description of English Syntax turns out to have fundamental theoretical implications for our overall Theory of Grammar: it means that we are no longer able to posit that the syntactic structure of a sentence can be described in terms of a single Phrase-marker representing its S-structure. For, the postulation of a rule of V-MOVEMENT means that we must recognise at least two different levels of structure in our Theory of Grammar — namely, a level of D-structure (formerly known as ‘Deep Structureʼ) which serves as input to the rule, and a separate level of S-structure which is formed by application of the rule.
  2. (computing, countable) The formal rules of formulating the statements of a computer language.
  3. (linguistics) The study of the structure of phrases, sentences and language.
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