In computing, syntax is made up of the rules that indicate the appropriate sequences of the elements of a programming language.
The word syntax comes from the Latin term syntaxis , which in turn derives from a Greek word that translates into Spanish as "coordinate." This is the branch of grammar that offers guidelines created to know how to join and relate words in order to make sentences and express concepts in a coherent way . In computing , syntax is understood as the group of rules that mark the correct sequences of the elements of a programming language .
As a subdiscipline framed in the field of linguistics , syntax focuses on the study of the precepts that govern the combination of constituents and the emergence of units superior to them , as happens with phrases and sentences.
Syntax function
Specifically, specialists in this matter clearly establish that the main function of syntax is to study said combination of words as well as the position in which they are located within a given sentence. That is, it informs us of the specific order that those in a sentence must have for it to be correctly executed.
Thus, for example, one of the most important rules established by this linguistic discipline that concerns us within Spanish is that any preposition must always come before a complement, regardless of its type.
Regarding the combination of words, one of the golden rules that this syntax establishes in Spanish is that they must coincide in both gender and number. This means that we have to say, for example, the dogs or the cats and not the dogs or the cats.
A rule that is also extrapolated to what verbal forms are. Specifically, and since these do not have gender, those must coincide in number. A clear example of this is the following phrase: "The little ones left school." In this case it is seen how the subject and the aforementioned verb coincide in number. What would be incorrect is to write "The children left school."
Syntax establishes how words can be combined to make the expression coherent.
structuralism
According to the American philologist and linguist Leonard Bloomfield ( 1887 – 1949 ), syntax is characterized by studying free forms made up entirely of free forms. This notion is described as structuralist .
The smallest ways in which a larger structure can be analyzed are its syntactic constituents , a word or sequence of terms that functions together as a unit integrated into the hierarchical structure of the sentence.
The current paradigm of science refers to generative grammar, which places emphasis on addressing syntax as a primitive and fundamental constituent of natural language .
Syntax analysis
On the other hand, it should be noted that the syntactic analysis of a structure involves the identification of the conjugated verb within the sentence, to distinguish between the subject phrase and the predicate phrase . For this, once the verb is recognized, it is asked who performs that action. The answer constitutes the subject, while the rest is the predicate.
Throughout history there have been many important linguists who have left their deep mark in the field of syntax. This would be the case, for example, of the Englishman Michael Alexander Halliday, who carried out various works on it and its communicative function.