Süntaksis

Süntaksis, or syntax, is the branch of linguistics that studies the structure of sentences. It investigates how words and smaller units combine to form phrases and clauses, and how these units are organized into hierarchical trees rather than mere linear sequences. The central concerns include the rules governing permissible combinations, the roles of grammatical categories (such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives), and the relations among sentence elements—the subject, predicate, object, and modifiers.

Different theoretical frameworks address these questions. Phrase-structure grammars describe how constituents are assembled; dependency grammar emphasizes binary relations between words; and generative or formal theories propose underlying rules that generate well-formed sentences. Core concepts include constituency, subcategorization, agreement, movement, and various constraints that explain why certain strings are ungrammatical.

Because word order, case marking, and inflection vary across languages, süntaksis is both universal in seeking general principles and diverse in its manifestations. Syntactic structure interacts with semantics and pragmatics, shaping interpretation and use. Descriptive and typological studies document cross-linguistic patterns, while computational approaches use syntactic theories to build parsers and treebanks for natural language processing.

Historically, süntaksis has evolved from ancient grammar traditions through structuralism to modern generative theories. Notable milestones include the development of phrase structure and X-bar theories and the influence of Noam Chomsky's generative grammar, which emphasizes deep structure and transformations as part of natural language competence.