In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, the term T-unit was coined by
Kellogg Hunt in 1965. It is defined as the "shortest grammatically allowable sentences into which (writing can be split) or minimally terminable unit." Often, but not always, a T-unit is a
sentence.
More technically, a T-unit is a dominant
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), ...
and its dependent clauses: as Hunt said: it is "one main clause with all subordinate clauses attached to it" (Hunt 1965:20). T-units are often used in the analysis of written and spoken
discourse
Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...
, such as in studies on errors in
second language writing. The number of error-free T-units may be counted, as in Robb et al. (1986), or changes in accuracy per T-unit overdrafts of compositions may be measured (Sachs and Polio, 2007).
Young (1995)
[{{cite journal, first1=Richard, last1=Young, title=Conversational Styles in Language Proficiency Interviews, journal=Language Learning, year=1995 , pages=3–42, volume=45, issue=1, doi=10.1111/j.1467-1770.1995.tb00961.x] gives some examples of what a T-unit is and is not:
"The following elements were counted as one T-unit: a single clause, a matrix plus subordinate clause, two or more phrases in apposition
Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and the element identifyi ...
, and fragments of clauses produced by ellipsis
The ellipsis (, plural ellipses; from , , ), rendered , alternatively described as suspension points/dots, points/periods of ellipsis, or ellipsis points, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot,. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when t ...
. Co-ordinate clauses were counted as two t-units. Elements not counted as t-units include backchannel
Backchannel is the use of networked computers to maintain a real-time online conversation alongside the primary group activity or live spoken remarks. The term was coined from Backchannel (linguistics), the linguistics term to describe listeners' ...
cues such as mhm and yeah, and discourse boundary markers such as okay, thanks or good. False starts were integrated into the following t-unit." (Young 1995:38)
See also
*
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), ...
*
Sentence (linguistics)
In linguistics and grammar, a sentence is a Expression (linguistics), linguistic expression, such as the English example "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In traditional grammar, it is typically defined as a string of words that expre ...
References
External links
Reading complexity judgments: Episode* Foster, P., Tonkyn, A. and Wigglesworth, G. (2000)
Measuring spoken language: a unit for all reasonsApplied Linguistics 21/3:354-375.
Syntactic entities