Author(s)

Jørgen Staun

Faculty of Arts, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

This study explores the possibility of interpreting the substance of both syntax and phonology in terms of a set of monovalent modules that constitute a network of transformational expansions emanating from a common core. In syntax, the exploration is restricted to the substance manifested in the basic semantic relations coding and forming sentences. Such relations represent the category of case and are paradigmatically described in terms of modules representing directional orientation and location. These modules are monovalent and interact in dependency relations reflecting the relative preponderance of the locational and directional substance characterizing such relations. Analogous structure is proposed for the paradigmatic composition of the phonological substance manifested in individual phonological segments. Assuming the tenets of component-based phonology, the study develops a restricted system of modules enabling the alignment of the paradigmatic description of both manner and place of articulation distinctions and internally of both vocalic and consonantal places distinctions. Dealing with the ultimate modules of both phonology and syntax, interpreted as inter-connected in a network of expansion from a common substantial core, the study points to new areas of parallel paradigmatic structure in these two domains of language.

Syntax, Phonology, Dependency, Description of Paradigmatic Constituents

Staun, J. (2024) Modularity, Dependency and the Description of a Syntactic and a Phonological Category. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 14, 235-266. doi: 10.4236/ojml.2024.142014.