parataxis: parataxis
The parataxis relation (from Greek for “place side by side”) is a relation between the main verb of a clause and other sentential elements, such as a sentential parenthetical, a clause after a “:” or a “;”, or two sentences placed side by side without any explicit coordination or subordination.
Let 's face it we 're annoyed
parataxis(Let, annoyed)
When multiple parataxes are present in a single sentence, they get a flat structure, not a hierarchical one, even if they form a temporal sequence.
ROOT I 'm not kidding , I once lost a hamster in my house , three months later I walk down in the basement and it was as big as a rat .
root(ROOT, kidding)
parataxis(lost, kidding)
parataxis(walk, kidding)
All else being equal, the leftmost phrase should be the head, but in rare situations the parataxis can go ``backwards’’:
The guy , John said , left early in the morning
parataxis(left, said)
See also: language-general documentation of parataxis
Treebank Statistics (UD_English)
This relation is universal.
1844 nodes (1%) are attached to their parents as parataxis.
1769 instances of parataxis (96%) are left-to-right (parent precedes child).
Average distance between parent and child is 10.8600867678959.
The following 64 pairs of parts of speech are connected with parataxis: en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (651; 35% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (221; 12% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (146; 8% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NOUN (132; 7% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADJ (126; 7% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NOUN (108; 6% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADJ (44; 2% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NOUN (42; 2% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADJ (41; 2% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NOUN (40; 2% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/VERB (40; 2% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/VERB (29; 2% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PROPN (25; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PROPN (16; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PRON (14; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/VERB (13; 1% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PROPN (12; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADV (12; 1% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/VERB (11; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NUM (9; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/X (9; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/ADJ (8; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/NOUN (7; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADV (6; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/ADJ (6; 0% instances), en-pos/X-en-pos/VERB (6; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PROPN (5; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NUM (5; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/NOUN (4; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PRON (4; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/SYM (4; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADV (3; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/NOUN (3; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/SYM (3; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/AUX (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NUM (2; 0% instances), en-pos/DET-en-pos/VERB (2; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/SYM (2; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/SYM-en-pos/SYM (2; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/AUX (2; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PART (2; 0% instances), en-pos/X-en-pos/NOUN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/SYM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/X (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/ADV (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PART (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/PRON (1; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/INTJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/X (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PART-en-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PART-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PRON (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/ADV (1; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/DET (1; 0% instances).
# visual-style 7 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 7 fgColor:white
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 1 7 parataxis color:blue
1 Read read VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _
2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _
3 entire entire ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _
4 article article NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 dobj _ SpaceAfter=No
5 ; ; PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _
6 there there PRON EX _ 7 expl _ SpaceAfter=No
7 's be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _
8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _
9 punchline punchline NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No
10 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _
11 too too ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No
12 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _
# visual-style 8 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 8 fgColor:white
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 1 8 parataxis color:blue
1 Moral moral NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _
2 of of ADP IN _ 4 case _ _
3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _
4 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No
5 : : PUNCT : _ 1 punct _ _
6 Do do AUX VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ SpaceAfter=No
7 n't not PART RB _ 8 neg _ _
8 drink drink VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _
9 Coke Coke PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 dobj _ SpaceAfter=No
10 .......... .......... PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
11 drink drink VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _
12 Pepsi Pepsi PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 dobj _ SpaceAfter=No
13 ! ! PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _
# visual-style 11 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 11 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 11 parataxis color:blue
1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _
2 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _
3 is be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _
4 silent silent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No
5 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _
6 none none NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _
7 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _
8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _
9 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _
10 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _
11 volunteer volunteer VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No
12 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _
Treebank Statistics (UD_English-ESL)
This relation is universal.
517 nodes (1%) are attached to their parents as parataxis.
512 instances of parataxis (99%) are left-to-right (parent precedes child).
Average distance between parent and child is 12.0386847195358.
The following 31 pairs of parts of speech are connected with parataxis: en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (207; 40% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (62; 12% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (57; 11% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADJ (53; 10% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NOUN (37; 7% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADJ (16; 3% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/ADJ (15; 3% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NOUN (13; 3% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NOUN (10; 2% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/VERB (6; 1% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/VERB (4; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/ADJ (3; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/VERB (3; 1% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/NOUN (3; 1% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/VERB (3; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADV (3; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PROPN (3; 1% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/PRON (2; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PROPN (2; 0% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/ADJ (2; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NUM (2; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/PRON (2; 0% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/ADV (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NUM (1; 0% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/PRON (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/ADJ (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/AUX (1; 0% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/AUX (1; 0% instances).
# visual-style 21 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 21 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 21 parataxis color:blue
1 _ _ ADP IN _ 3 case _ _
2 _ _ DET DT _ 3 det _ _
3 _ _ NOUN NN _ 6 nmod _ _
4 _ _ PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _
5 _ _ PRON PRP _ 6 nsubj _ _
6 _ _ VERB VBD _ 0 root _ _
7 _ _ ADP IN _ 8 case _ _
8 _ _ NOUN NN _ 6 nmod _ _
9 _ _ ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _
10 _ _ PUNCT -LRB- _ 11 punct _ _
11 _ _ CONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _
12 _ _ NOUN NN _ 8 conj _ _
13 _ _ ADP IN _ 16 case _ _
14 _ _ DET PRP$ _ 16 nmod:poss _ _
15 _ _ ADJ JJ _ 16 amod _ _
16 _ _ NOUN NN _ 12 nmod _ _
17 _ _ PUNCT -RRB- _ 12 punct _ _
18 _ _ PUNCT : _ 6 punct _ _
19 _ _ AUX VBP _ 21 aux _ _
20 _ _ PRON PRP _ 21 nsubj _ _
21 _ _ VERB VB _ 6 parataxis _ _
22 _ _ PRON NN _ 23 nsubj _ _
23 _ _ VERB VBP _ 21 ccomp _ _
24 _ _ PRON PRP _ 23 iobj _ _
25 _ _ ADP RP _ 23 compound:prt _ _
26 _ _ PRON NN _ 23 dobj _ _
27 _ _ PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 1 4 parataxis color:blue
1 _ _ NOUN NN _ 0 root _ _
2 _ _ PUNCT : _ 1 punct _ _
3 _ _ DET DT _ 4 nsubj _ _
4 _ _ VERB VBD _ 1 parataxis _ _
5 _ _ ADV WRB _ 8 mark _ _
6 _ _ PROPN NNP _ 8 nsubj _ _
7 _ _ PROPN NNP _ 6 name _ _
8 _ _ VERB VBD _ 4 advcl _ _
9 _ _ SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _
10 _ _ PROPN NNP _ 11 nsubj _ _
11 _ _ VERB VB _ 8 ccomp _ _
12 _ _ SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _
13 _ _ VERB VB _ 11 xcomp _ _
14 _ _ ADP IN _ 15 case _ _
15 _ _ NOUN NN _ 13 nmod _ _
16 _ _ PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _
# visual-style 9 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 9 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 9 parataxis color:blue
1 _ _ PRON PRP _ 3 nsubj _ _
2 _ _ VERB VBD _ 3 cop _ _
3 _ _ ADJ JJ _ 0 root _ _
4 _ _ PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _
5 _ _ PRON PRP _ 9 nsubj _ _
6 _ _ DET DT _ 5 det _ _
7 _ _ AUX VBD _ 9 aux _ _
8 _ _ PART RB _ 9 neg _ _
9 _ _ VERB VB _ 3 parataxis _ _
10 _ _ PRON WP _ 12 dobj _ _
11 _ _ PART TO _ 12 mark _ _
12 _ _ VERB VB _ 9 xcomp _ _
13 _ _ PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _
Treebank Statistics (UD_English-LinES)
This relation is universal.
127 nodes (0%) are attached to their parents as parataxis.
125 instances of parataxis (98%) are left-to-right (parent precedes child).
Average distance between parent and child is 5.8740157480315.
The following 26 pairs of parts of speech are connected with parataxis: en-pos/VERB-en-pos/VERB (57; 45% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/VERB (15; 12% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/VERB (9; 7% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/INTJ (8; 6% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/VERB (4; 3% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/NOUN (4; 3% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/INTJ (3; 2% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/VERB (3; 2% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADJ (3; 2% instances), en-pos/ADJ-en-pos/INTJ (2; 2% instances), en-pos/AUX-en-pos/VERB (2; 2% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/VERB (2; 2% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/ADV (2; 2% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/ADV (1; 1% instances), en-pos/ADP-en-pos/INTJ (1; 1% instances), en-pos/ADV-en-pos/NOUN (1; 1% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/INTJ (1; 1% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/NOUN (1; 1% instances), en-pos/INTJ-en-pos/VERB (1; 1% instances), en-pos/NOUN-en-pos/NOUN (1; 1% instances), en-pos/NUM-en-pos/VERB (1; 1% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/INTJ (1; 1% instances), en-pos/PRON-en-pos/PRON (1; 1% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/NOUN (1; 1% instances), en-pos/PROPN-en-pos/PRON (1; 1% instances), en-pos/VERB-en-pos/AUX (1; 1% instances).
# visual-style 8 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 8 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 3 8 parataxis color:blue
1 Maybe _ ADV _ _ 3 advmod _ _
2 I _ PRON PERS-P1SG-NOM _ 3 nsubj _ _
3 make _ VERB PRES _ 0 root _ _
4 you _ PRON PERS-P2 _ 3 dobj _ _
5 the _ DET DEF _ 6 det _ _
6 manager _ NOUN SG _ 3 xcomp _ _
7 , _ PUNCT Comma _ 3 punct _ _
8 said _ VERB PAST _ 3 parataxis _ _
9 the _ DET DEF _ 10 det _ _
10 counterman _ NOUN SG _ 8 nsubj _ _
11 . _ PUNCT Period _ 3 punct _ _
# visual-style 9 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 9 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 9 parataxis color:blue
1 No _ DET NEG _ 2 neg _ _
2 questions _ NOUN PL _ 0 root _ _
3 , _ PUNCT Comma _ 2 punct _ _
4 please _ INTJ _ _ 2 parataxis _ _
5 , _ PUNCT Comma _ 2 punct _ _
6 the _ DET DEF _ 8 det _ _
7 young _ ADJ POS _ 8 amod _ _
8 man _ NOUN SG _ 9 nsubj _ _
9 said _ VERB PAST _ 2 parataxis _ _
10 at _ ADV _ _ 9 advmod _ _
11 last _ ADV _ _ 10 mwe _ _
12 . _ PUNCT Period _ 2 punct _ _
# visual-style 8 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 8 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 8 parataxis color:blue
1 ' _ PUNCT Quote _ 4 punct _ _
2 What _ PRON WH _ 4 discourse _ _
3 ! _ PUNCT ExclMark _ 8 punct _ _
4 Dead _ ADJ POS _ 0 root _ _
5 ? _ PUNCT QuestionMark _ 8 punct _ _
6 ' _ PUNCT Quote _ 4 punct _ _
7 I _ PRON PERS-P1SG-NOM _ 8 nsubj _ _
8 asked _ VERB PAST _ 4 parataxis _ _
9 , _ PUNCT _ _ 8 punct _ _
10 startled _ VERB PAST _ 8 conj _ _
11 . _ PUNCT Period _ 4 punct _ _
parataxis in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]