Chapter One: Connection and Stemma

Lucien Tesnière, “Sketch of a Structural Syntax” (1953)

Lance Peterson
Jul 24, 2017 · 5 min read

Connection

In the sentence Alfred sings (or the French sentence Alfred chante), how many elements are there?

Two, one usually answers: Alfred and sings. Only one, ventures sometimes those who sense the unity of the sentence. Three, we say, taking into account the above two responses:

  1. Alfred,
  2. sings,
  3. finally, and above all, the tie that unites Alfred and sings, and without which we would only have two independent ideas, without a relationship to one another, but not an organized thought.

We will give the name connection to the tie without which there would be no possible sentence.

The connection is the soul of the sentence, its vital and organizing principal. It assumes there a structural function.

We will represent the connection by a vertical line that we will call a connection line.

“For greater clarity, we represent graphically the connection between words by lines that we call connection lines.” (Elements of Structural Syntax, Chapter 1, ¶13).

Nucleus

We will give the name nucleus to the elements Alfred and sings, which are united by the connection.

The nucleus is the constitutive atom of the sentence. It is what contains the idea. It plays the semantic function.

Nucleus circle.

We will represent it graphically by a circle, the nucleus circle. Practically speaking, the use of the nucleus circle is optional while that of the connection line is obligatory.

22, 16 “Since we have been led to compare the nucleus to a circle, we represent it graphically by drawing a circle form around the words that form a nucleus. We call this circle, to which the connections are joined, a nucleus circle.” (Elements of Structural Syntax, Chapter 22, ¶16).

To have a connection, two nuclei are required, a superior one that we will call governor and an inferior one that we will call subordinate.

When there are two connections, there are three nuclei, of which one shares two connections, which it ties together. We will say there is a node. That is the nodal function. Thus in: your friend sings, or the French votre ami chante, the central nucleus is the node of two connections.

3: 2 Every governor that governs one or more subordinates forms what we call a node. (Elements of Structural Syntax, Chapter 3, ¶2).

19: 5 We have seen (Chapter 3, 3) that the governor fulfills the function of linking the different connections to diverse subordinates together into a single group. We call this function the nodal function. (Elements of Structural Syntax, Chapter 19, ¶5).

And so on with 3, 4, 5 connections, etc.

Stemma

The structure of the sentence depends on the architecture of its connections. Structural syntax is the science that studies this architecture.

The stemma is the graphical representation of the architecture of these connections. It has both a pedagogical interest due to its simple, clear, concrete and succinct character and a scientific interest due to its rigor and flexibility.

A stemma can be linear or forked. A forked stemma can present a bifurcation, a trifurcation or an even more developed ramification:

Spoken Chain

The spoken chain is the immediate fact of speech. It has one dimension and is represented as such in the form of a line: notebook lines, lines in a book, on a phonograph record, telephone or telegraph line.

“The raw material of speech is the sequence of sounds or phonemes that we perceive by hearing. We call this sequence the name spoken chain.” (Elements of Structural Syntax, Chapter 5, ¶1).

The antinomy between the linear order of the spoken chain and the internal structural order that the stemma materializes makes up the essential problem of grammar and its teaching.

The object of structural syntax is to reveal the deep structural reality hidden behind the linear appearance of language on the spoken chain.

Linear sequences on the spoken chain generally correspond with structural connections, that is two connected words are generally placed next to one another on the spoken chain.

But since the spoken chain has one dimension, a word can only have two neighbors, one before and one after it. Thus if structural connections can still correspond with linear sequences in the case of stemmas with bifurcation, it is no longer possible in the case of stemmas with trifurcation. Thus connections which correspond with no sequence necessarily subsist.

Understanding a language is reestablishing the connections that do not appear in the form of sequences on the spoken chain, and reconstructing the internal architecture: Votre soeur donnera sa belle écharpe rose à ma jeune cousine. Your sister will give her beautiful scarf to my young cousin.

Stemmatic Analysis

The method of structural syntax essentially consists of reconstructing the stemma of a given spoken chain, that is recognizing its internal structure. The drawing up of the stemma constitutes stemmatic analysis, which includes at once grammatical analysis and logical analysis, which it replaces favorably.

Speech

Inversely, speech is only the linear summary of the stemma. The direction and order of this summary makes up the problem of construction.

Certain languages which present a identical stemma for a given fact can differ in the ways they are laid out on the spoken chain. Thus French constructs the linear summary from high to low in the expression: chien blanc while English constructs the linear summary from low to high in the corresponding expression: white dog. Two languages differing only by the direction of the linear summary are structurally closer to one another than two languages where the stemma are conceived of differently.

Lance Peterson

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Product Leadership (Data, IoT, Language, TV)

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