then it can nevertheless receive the status of object. This third strategy is tacitly preferred by most work in theoretical syntax. All those theories of syntax that avoid providing concrete definitions of the grammatical relations but yet reference them often are (perhaps unknowingly) pursuing an approach in terms of prototypical traits. Heads and dependents In dependency grammar (DG) theories of syntax, every head-dependent dependency bears a syntactic function. The result is that an inventory consisting of dozens of distinct syntactic functions is needed for each language. For example, a determiner-noun dependency might be assumed to bear the DET (determiner) function, and an adjective-noun dependency is assumed to bear the ATTR (attribute) function. These functions are often produced as labels on the dependencies themselves in the syntactic tree, e.g. The tree contains the following syntactic functions: ATTR (attribute), CCOMP (clause complement), DET (determiner), MOD (modifier), OBJ (object), SUBJ (subject), and VCOMP (verb complement). The actual inventories of syntactic functions will differ from the one suggested here in the number and types of functions that are assumed. In this regard, this tree is merely intended to be illustrative of the importance that the syntactic functions can take on in some theories of syntax and grammar. See also Dependency grammar Head-directionality parameter Phrase structure grammar Syntax Thematic relations Notes References Ágel, V., Ludwig Eichinger, Hans-Werner Eroms, Peter Hellwig, Hans Heringer, and Hennig Lobin (eds.) 2003/6. Dependency and Valency: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Bach, E. 1974. Syntactic theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Carnie, A. 2007. Syntax: A generative introduction, 2nd edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Chomsky, N. 1965. Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Cowper, E. 2009. A concise introduction to syntactic theory: The government-binding approach. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Culicover, P. 1997. Principles and Parameters: An introduction to syntactic theory. Oxford University Press. Mel'čuk, I. 1988. Dependency syntax: Theory and practice. Albany: SUNY Press. Napoli, D. 1993. Syntax: Theory and problems. New York: Oxford University Press. Syntax Generative syntax Syntactic relationships Semantics