The Logal Structure of the Phrase
The logical structure of includes a head and the arguments of the head. In semantics, a head is called a predicate. Consider the following sentence:
(1) Mary slept.
The head of (1) is SLEEP and the argument of SLEEP is MARY. The logical structure is written as:
(2) SLEEP <MARY>
CAPS are always used for the logical represenntation of words and forms. A head may imply an argument. An argument is always dependent on the head. A head represents the basic lexical meaning of the word. An argument is a head in its own right, but it is an argument in relation to the head which assigns. In (2) SLEEP implies that someone is sleeping. That someone is an argument of the head. The word MARY does not imply sleeping or any other activity or state. Note that (3):
(3) *Sleeps.
is not a complete sentence. It needs the argument of sleep (Mary sleeps). Note also that there are various forms of SLEEP: sleep, slept, sleeping, sleeps. These forms are determined by various grammatical operators (tense, aspect). We will cover the logical structure of such operators at this time. A head and all of its arguments is called a noun phrase.
An adjective can be a head as well:
(4) John is tall.
(5) TALL <JOHN>
TALL implies that someone or something (i.e. BUILDING) is tall. Neither JOHN nor BUILDING imply height or any other physical attribute.
A preposition can be a head:. Note that the definite determiner the modifies table:
(6) on the table.
(7) ON <THE TABLE>
ON implies on something. TABLE does not imply that anything is on it.
And finally, nouns can take an argument. Several examples are cited here:
(8a) cup of tea
(8b) glass of milk
(8c) box of candy
(8d) dish of ice cream
(8e) colour of the house
(8f) name of the child
(8g) size of the bed.
The first word in each of the above phrases is a head, the prepositonal phrase that follows it is implied by the head. On the other hand TEA does not imply CUP, MILK does not imply GLASS, CANDY does not imply BOX, and so forth throughout the examples in (8).
This page last updated 19 JA 2001.
