sintagmas

A sintagma, in linguistics, is a syntactic unit that forms a single constituent within a sentence. The term, from Greek roots meaning “put together,” is used in many Romance-language traditions (for example, sintagma nominal, sintagma verbal) and is often equated with the English term “phrase.” A sentence is typically made up of multiple sintagmas organized hierarchically.

Sintagmas are usually described as having a head word that determines their category, with various modifiers, determiners, or complements attached to or projecting from that head. Common types include sintagma nominal (nominal phrase, headed by a noun), sintagma verbal (verbal phrase, headed by a verb), sintagma preposicional (prepositional phrase, headed by a preposition), as well as sintagma adjetival (adjective phrase) and sintagma adverbial (adverb phrase). A syntactic unit may function as a subject, object, predicate, or modifier within a sentence.

Different linguistic traditions may emphasize slightly different structures or terminology, but the core idea remains: sintagmas are the building blocks of sentences, combining into larger units according to rules of syntax. The internal organization typically involves a head that governs the distribution and agreement of the surrounding elements.

In practice, sintagmas are used in grammar descriptions, parsing, and language analysis to describe how words group together to convey meaning. They are central to theories of constituency and to many computational approaches to natural language processing.