Syntactic predicates

Bibliographic Data

ID10140366
AuthorsTimothy Osborne (0000-0001-5685-357X, Zhejiang University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Pages1-35
Publication date2026-02-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-2267 • E-ISSN: 1469-7742
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022226726101121
OpenAlexW7128483625
LanguageEN
References cited37

Most theories of sentence structure acknowledge predicates, yet what one understands a predicate to be can vary significantly from one theory to the next, and from one grammarian to the next. This article surveys how the predicate notion is understood in semantics, syntax, and grammar studies quite generally. It scrutinizes the various predicate concepts, and then argues in favor of one particular understanding of predicates in syntax, one that is especially congruent with a dependency grammar (DG) approach to sentence structures. Predicates are catenae , the catena being a concrete unit of syntactic analysis. The catena-based approach to predicates is motivated in three areas: in terms of the synthetic vs. analytic realizations of meaning, in terms of entailment patterns, and in terms of pronoun resolution. The catena-based approach makes insightful generalizations in these areas possible

Grammar · Logical consequence · Predicate (mathematical logic · Pronoun · Sentence · Syntactic structure · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation