Discontinuous Constituents
Discontinuous Constituents
Discontinuous constituents are constituents which are
- separated from each other by one or more intervening constituent, and
- considered either
- syntactically contiguous and unitary, or
- realizing the same, single meaning.
(English)
Here are some examples of discontinuous constituents in English:
- Certain phrasal verbs, such as “switch the light on”
- Word segments separated by expletive insertions, such as “abso-bloomin-lutely”
- Inflectional agreement markers
(French)
The French negative ne … pas are discontinuous constituents:
Je ne sais pas. ‘I don’t know.’
Page/s: 575
Source: McCarthy 1982
McCarthy, John J. 1982. "Prosodic structure and expletive infixation." Language.
Page/s: 68-69
Source: Hartmann and Stork 1972
Hartmann, R.R.K., and F.C. Stork. 1972.Dictionary of language and linguistics. London: Applied Science.
Page/s: 114
Source: Crystal 1980
Crystal, David. 1980.A first dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Broader Terms
- BT↑ Constituent
