Principles and representations governing structured combinations of linguistic elements. Experiments must distinguish building or interpreting a structure from holding its elements in memory, detecting errors and selecting responses.
A description of structural demands in a sentence, such as a noncanonical dependency. Its operational definition should be explicit; longer strings, unfamiliar words and greater working-memory load do not define syntax by themselves.
An impairment in grammatical structure in production or comprehension. It is not equivalent to reduced speech rate, dysarthria or all forms of aphasia; task design must separate grammatical dependencies from lexical and memory demands.
An embedded clause serving as a complement, such as “that the toy is in the box” in “she says that the toy is in the box”. The full report can be true even when the embedded proposition is false, making such constructions relevant to distinguishing a representation from reality.[ref]
The influence of language on theory of mind by Courtney Melinda Hale and Helen Tager-Flusberg. Developmental Science 6, 346–359; random allocation to complement, false-belief or relative-clause training
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Syntax refers to the rules and principles that govern the structure of sentences in a language. It involves the arrangement of words and phrases to create meaningful sentences. In linguistics, syntax examines how different parts of speech (such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) combine and interact to form coherent and grammatically correct sentences. Key aspects of syntax include: 1. **Word Order:** The sequence in which words appear in a sentence.