semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

, a predicand is an

argument An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...

in an

utterance In spoken language analysis, an utterance is a continuous piece of speech, by one person, before or after which there is silence on the part of the person. In the case of oral language, spoken languages, it is generally, but not always, bounded ...

, specifically that of which something is predicated. By extension, in

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

, it is the constituent in a

clause In language, a clause is a Constituent (linguistics), constituent or Phrase (grammar), phrase that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic Predicate (grammar), predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject (grammar), ...

typically functioning as the subject.

Examples

In the most typical cases, the predicand corresponds to the subject of a clause, and the predicate corresponds to a

verb phrase In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntax, syntactic unit composed of a verb and its argument (linguistics), arguments except the subject (grammar), subject of an independent clause or coordinate clause. Thus, in the sentence ''A fat man quic ...

(VP) that is the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of the clause. But there are also form-meaning mismatches, where the predicand is not a subject or where the predicate is not the head of the clause. Also, not every utterance has a predicand.

When predicates correspond to the head of the clause

The typical case involves a predicand corresponding to the subject and a predicate corresponding to a

that is the

of the clause.

Subject predicands

Predicands are usually expressed in the utterance, and they are typically the subject. In the English example (1), the predicand is the person being spoken to, which corresponds to the subject ''you.''

Unexpressed predicands

In many languages,

pronominal In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not con ...

subjects can be dropped, but this doesn't drop a predicand. For instance, in the Spanish example (2), there is no subject, but the predicand is still the person being spoken to. If the subject is not included, the predicand can be ambiguous, as shown in the Japanese example (3). When (3) is spoken, it can be interpreted as "it's hot" where the predicand is the ambient temperature, or it can mean that an object is hot to the touch, in which case, the predicand would be the object in question. Predicands are usually unexpressed in imperative clauses, but they are usually the person or people being addressed.

Non-subject predicands

There are cases in which the predicand has a syntactic function other than subject. This happens in raising constructions, such as (4). Here, ''you'' is the object of the ''make''

, the head of the main clause. But it's also the predicand of the subordinate ''think'' clause, which has no subject. Another example is in object predicands such as (5).

Predicates other than head of the clause

Adjuncts with subject predicands

A modifier can be a predicate. Often this is a VP as in (6a), but it can also be an

adjective phrase An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose Head (linguistics), head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland ( ...

, as in (6b). In both cases the relevant modifier is underlined. : In both cases, the predicand is the speaker, which corresponds to the subject. Note that the predicand has two predicates in each case: the modifier and the head VP.

Adjuncts with unexpressed predicands

Like (2 & 3), adjunct can have unexpressed predicands. In (7), the underlined adjunct VP has no expressed predicand. The predicand in this case is the protagonist, Orlando. This kind of construction has traditionally been seen as a

dangling modifier A dangling modifier (also known as a dangling participle, illogical participle or hanging participle) is a type of ambiguous grammatical construct whereby a grammatical modifier could be misinterpreted as being associated with a word other than th ...

, though Donaldson argues otherwise. :

Adjuncts with non-subject predicands

Similar to (4), adjuncts can take non-subject predicands. In (8), even though ''several things'' is the subject of the clause and ''John'' is the object of the preposition ''to'', the underlined adjunct VP has John as its predicand. : In cleft sentences such as ''It's you who was right'', the subject is the dummy pronoun ''it'', but the predicand is the person being addressed, which corresponds to a complement in the VP. The predicate here is the VP in the relative clause modifier ''was right''.

Verbless clauses

In verbless clauses, a predicate may be a constituent such as

prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circumposition) as he ...

. An example is shown in (9), with the predicate underlined. : Here, the predicand is the hands of the speaker, denoted by the subject of the verbless clause ''my hands in my pockets''.

Utterances without a predicand

Utterances need not have a predicand. For example, an exclamation of '' Putain!'' in French after a painful bump has no predicand.

Impersonal verb In linguistics, an impersonal verb is one that has no determinate subject. For example, in the sentence "''It rains''", ''rain'' is an impersonal verb and the pronoun ''it'' corresponds to an exophoric referrent. In many languages the verb takes ...

s, such as ''rain'' in English or '' havazik'' "snow" in Hungarian also seem to have no predicand at all.

Predicands and thematic roles

A predicand is typically a subject, and subjects typically have the thematic role of agent.{{Cite book, last=Perlmutter, first=David, title=Studies in Relational Grammar 2, last2=Postal, first2=Paul, year=1984, location=Chicago, pages=81–125, chapter=The 1-advancement exclusiveness law Nevertheless, the predicand is by no means limited to this role.

References

Grammar Semantics Transitivity and valency