Term (in relational grammar)

In Relational Grammar, term is used for an expression bearing the grammatical relation of subject ("1"), direct object ("2"), or indirect object ("3"). Non-terms are oblique(2)s or chomeurs (Blake 1990:1).

Polysemy

The term term is also used in a technical sense to denote

• a noun phrase (in Functional Grammar; see term (in Functional Grammar)).
• a cover term for individual expressions and predicates (in formal logic; see term (in logic)).

Synonyms

Term roughly corresponds to actant, argument, or complement in other terminological traditions. However, oblique arguments as in rely on somebody, put the book on the table, are not terms but would be considered to be arguments or complements by most linguists who use these terms.

Origin

Coined by relational grammarians in the 1970s.

References

• Blake, Barry J. 1990. Relational grammar. London: Routledge.