The Theory of the IC. (The Phrase Grammar)

To arrive at the complete structural meaning of a sentence, to know how the sentence is built (constructed) we must determine also how the separate units of the sentence, its constituents, are grouped.

Fries introduces in the analysis of the sentence the idea of phrases consisting of the immediate constituents.

To show the importance of the IC grammar he compares in his book the phrase grammar with the mathematical grouping of the items in a problem.

He shows that the answer to a very trivial problem such as “Five plus four times six minus three” will vary with each different grouping of the constituents, although there will be each time the same items: 5, 4, 6, and 3 and the same three operations: addition, multiplication and subtraction. Depending on different grouping there may be four different answers:

(5+4)(6-3)=27; 5+(4x6)-3=26; 5+4(6-3)=17; [(5+4)x6]-3=51

This problem shows how important the grouping of the constituents is.

English Phrases

Each language has its own system of structural grouping and the signals of the groups (or phrases). In English there are generally two IC in a phrase. English has dichotomous phrase structure, which means that the phrase in English can always be divided into two elements (constituents). One of the signals of the group boundaries is the function word-preposition. In spoken language (in oral speech) the structural groupings (phrases) are shown by intonation and pauses. This suggests teaching the phrase grammar together with the rhythmical division of the chunks of speech. The practical value of the IC theory is great, because it gives correct division of speech into phrases that signals the meaning of the syntactic constructions and gives the speech its natural rhythm.

It is a well-known fact that a speaker of a foreign language who has a perfect command of the sounds, but whose phrase pauses are wrong, cannot be understood by native listeners. This proves the practical value of the phrase grammar.