Catena (linguistics)

In linguistics, a catena (English pronunciation: /kəˈtiːnə/, plural catenas or catenae; from Latin for "chain")^[1] is a unit of syntax and morphology, closely associated with dependency grammars. It is a more flexible and inclusive unit than the constituent and its proponents therefore consider it to be better suited than the constituent to serve as the fundamental unit of syntactic and morphosyntactic analysis.^[2]

The catena has served as the basis for the analysis of a number of phenomena of syntax, such as idiosyncratic meaning, ellipsis mechanisms (e.g. gapping, stripping, VP-ellipsis, pseudogapping, sluicing, answer ellipsis, comparative deletion), predicate-argument structures, and discontinuities (topicalization, wh-fronting, scrambling, extraposition, etc.).^[3] The catena concept has also been taken as the basis for a theory of morphosyntax, i.e. for the extension of dependencies into words; dependencies are acknowledged between the morphs that constitute words.^[4]

While the catena concept has been applied mainly to the syntax of English, other works are also demonstrating its applicability to the syntax and morphology of other languages.^[5]

^ "catena". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020.
^ Osborne et al. (2012) develop this claim at length, namely that the catena unit should be regarded as the fundamental unit of syntax rather than the constituent.
^ Osborne (2019) discusses many of these mechanisms of syntax on a basis of the catena unit.
^ Two articles that acknowledge morph catenae, i.e. catenae the links of which are morphs (as opposed to complete words) are Groß and Osborne (2013) and Groß (2014). The former article, which is in German, demonstrates that constructions often consist of morph catenae and the latter article, which is in English, provides a dependency grammar account of clitics based upon the catena.
^ Groß and Osborne (2013) demonstrate the applicability of the catena concept to the syntax and morphosyntax of German, and Imrényi (2013a, 2013b: 98–100, 2013c) shows its utility for the analysis of verb combinations and clause structure in Hungarian.

[1] "catena". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020.

[2] Osborne et al. (2012) develop this claim at length, namely that the catena unit should be regarded as the fundamental unit of syntax rather than the constituent.

[3] Osborne (2019) discusses many of these mechanisms of syntax on a basis of the catena unit.

[4] Two articles that acknowledge morph catenae, i.e. catenae the links of which are morphs (as opposed to complete words) are Groß and Osborne (2013) and Groß (2014). The former article, which is in German, demonstrates that constructions often consist of morph catenae and the latter article, which is in English, provides a dependency grammar account of clitics based upon the catena.

[5] Groß and Osborne (2013) demonstrate the applicability of the catena concept to the syntax and morphosyntax of German, and Imrényi (2013a, 2013b: 98–100, 2013c) shows its utility for the analysis of verb combinations and clause structure in Hungarian.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]