Parataxis is the human-made syntactic practice of arranging clauses or phrases side by side without hierarchical subordination, connected by coordination (coordinating conjunctions, punctuation, or zero-connection). Parameters: (1) at least two clauses or phrases of equal syntactic status, (2) absence of subordinating markers — no embedding of one element within another, (3) connection established through coordination or juxtaposition. Persistence mechanism: grammatical convention across languages, stylistic practice in rhetoric and narrative, and the explicit teaching of sentence structure in education.
Accepted ontology entry
parataxis
Parataxis is the human-made syntactic practice of arranging clauses or phrases side by side without hierarchical subordination, connected by coordination (coordinating conjunctions, punctuation, or zero-connection). Parameters: (1) at leas…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made syntactic arrangement practice where clauses or phrases are placed side by side without hierarchical subordination — built to persist through grammatical convention, stylistic practice, and the explicit teaching of sentence structure.
Names and aliases
- parataxisen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmro1ntqq03pjd1nljhuc635uINSTANCE_OF →
Parataxis is a specific kind of syntactic pattern — the practice of arranging clauses coordinately without subordination. Direction follows Law 9 (specific→general). A competent speaker would say 'parataxis is a syntax pattern.' Pins the sense of syntax as the system of syntactic patterns.
Relations to this entry
- cmrvmb89001kl2cein1pvs2q3← DERIVED_FROM
Historical development: paratactic syntactic patterns (simple coordination/juxtaposition) existed before hypotactic patterns (hierarchical subordination) in language evolution. Parataxis is the simpler, more primitive form that hypotaxis built upon. Which-came-first test per Law 7: paratactic structures are more basic and preceded hypotactic ones. Direction: hypotaxis DERIVED_FROM parataxis.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 22, 2026, 5:04 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 111d9e6025f2f510b959dc1abaa27a6253f950c65a4ddd9dc3418831a1dbfd1b