34_IC method

34. The IC method of analysis.

The term – L.Bloomfield 1933 (structuralists)

This principle is based on a binary principle – 2 types of representation. The sentence may be represented in the form of the derivational tree when we start with the largest immediate constituents – the group of the subject and the group of the predicate. If this ICs is not ultimate, we ….. on the sentence – Ics and they are parts of speech (on the basis of the binary principle)

This method aims at defining(pointing at) ultimate immediate constitutional parts of speech.

Every sentence having a dichotomous structure is divided into 2 parts of which is divided, if possible, into smaller parts. Level of the sentence > level of phrase>word level>morphemic level

A sentence – not a sequence of elements, but is made up of layers of constituents, each labeled in syntactic-morphological terms.

Thus the fundamental aim of IC analysis is to segment a set of lexical units into two maximally independent sequences or ICs thus revealing the hierarchical structure of this set.

Forms:

• A tree diagram

Sentence Poor John ran away

Adjective Noun Verb Particle

Subject Predicate

Subject Predicate

Adjective Noun Verb Particle

Poor John ran away Sentence

• Cuts (are made after each binary division, that is between least connected words, word-groups and even morphemes) (usually precedes other forms)

1. The || old ||| man | saw || a |||| black ||||| dog ||| there.

2. A ||| young |||| man || with ||| a ||| paper | followed ||| the girl || with ||| a |||| blue ||| || dress.

3. It || was ||| ten |||| o’clock | as || she ||| turned out |||| of ||||| the |||||| gate

• A candelabrum 

The ||| large |||| current ||||| buns || in ||| the |||| window | taste || very ||| nice.

Merits:

1. More powerful than parsing as it is devoid of the arbitrariness and overconcentration on terminology.

2. Provides a first insight into language structure, a preliminary tool for sorting and classifying.

Demerits:

1. It doesn’t show syntactic relations between the components of the sentence it points out only part of speech. There may be different sentences having 1 and the same derivational tree but who are semantically different. (John is easy to please/ john is eager to please)

2. Some important grammatical relationships (e.g. Passive/Active Voice connection) are obscured.