Sentence Structure as a Statement Calculus
Robert E. Longacre · Language · 1970
Sentence (as opposed to clause) structure involves a combination of predications into larger units much as in the statement calculus of formal logic, but requires a richer apparatus. An over-all taxonomic scheme—relevant to sentence structures in many parts of the world—is presented. After showing how structurally distinct parts of the sentence are relevant to the structure of paragraphs and discourses, a detailed classification of English sentence types is presented. The parameters of the resulting over-all system are suggestive of universal parameters of relation and contrast among sentences.