Is there a definition of "sentence" that is applicable to all languages?
4 Answers
Yes:
A word or set of grammatically linked words expressing a complete thought.
"Expressing a complete thought" is context-dependent: "Sure" might or might not be a sentence. It is as an answer to, "Care for some coffee?" but not as part of "Don't be so sure".
The context needn't be conversational: "INT. DAY" is a sentence, in the context of a movie script.
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Why do you think that is the definition of sentence? What does it mean to be a "complete thought"?– user6726Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 23:16
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I like the approach, but would "A lot" as an answer to "What comes to your mind when thinking about the universe" be a valid "complete thought"? Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 0:13
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1@MichaelHardy you are correct. Any non-circular definition of "sentence" is outside the domain of syntax. Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 4:25
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2It would help to have a definition in linguistic terms that could at least serve as a field guide to humans who would like to identify the linguistic phenomena but don't have linguists nearby to blaze the trees for them. "Complete thought" is not helpful. How about predication? How about different varieties, like polysynthetic sentences versus analytic sentences? How about constituency?– jlawlerCommented Aug 23, 2016 at 14:27
I agree with the comments - it would help if you narrowed down the perspective from which you look on the topic. My primary approach would be actually top-down definition, i.e. sentence as a constitutive element of an utterance.
Utterance - a unit of speech typically with silence on the part of a speaker as boundaries.
Sentence - a unit constituting an utterance and intended to correspond to a meaningful complex structuring an idea, determined on many different levels requiring to structure one's speech into finite units due to our physiological and cognitive limitations.
Syntactic clause/phrase or Speech clause - depending further on perspective assumed a constitutive unit of sentence.
Since it may not be clear to everyone what makes a thought complete, the best notion to 'define' what makes a phrase a sentence is to say what it takes to evaluate it as true or false ( or neither). Meaning defines form - not everyone will like that!
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1Maybe this will work for declarative sentences. But "Where is John?" and "Sit down!" are not true or false, but both are sentences. Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 20:28
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How does knowing how to verify that "This cat is ugly" constitute a definition of "sentence"?– user6726Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 22:32
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1@user6726 : I think the idea is that if it doesn't make sense to call it true or false, then it's less than a complete sentence. The phrase "this cat" cannot be true or false. The problem I see with this proposal is that it cannot apply to imperative or interrogative sentences. Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 17:32
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2@MichaelHardy, if you ignore context, it doesn't make sense to say that "This cat is ugly" is true or false, since it omits information about the referent of "this cat" and also what the standards of ugliness are. With context, it makes sense. But then with the contextual information that one is proximal to a certain cat and are responding to the question "Which cat killed the rat?", "this cat" has a definite truth value. I conclude that the problem with operational verification is either insurmountable, or doesn't yield what we normally call "sentences".– user6726Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 17:41
I take a sentence to be declarative, hence questions are not sentences, but, if you like, interrogative phrases, and imperatives are similarly not sentences either, but, if you like, commanding phrases. The standard semantics for questions and imperatives are based on truth-coditional models, but the original question I attempted to address was not about that.
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1Even assuming your convention that only declaratives are sentences, how do you define sentence? I would also follow on the assumption that sentences are declarative by asking why "sentence" is useful for you, and why not replace it with "declarative phrase"?– user6726Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 23:06
Sare not things that can be identified in the field. The real question is whether there is a useful and universal definition of sentence. I tend to doubt it.