Syntax Search for Genitive Absolutes

David Fish

Hello,

I really need to become better at Syntax Searches. In L3 (which I still have on my computer, but use rarely now), I have a Syntax Search to find genitive absolutes.

I was attempting to build a simple search in L4, and got no hits. I've looked at the Wiki's Basic Strategy for Syntax Search, but didn't find the answer.

I'll try to insert an image of what I did.

I realize that the search needs for the "Clause Function: Subject" to have an OR operator, with the possibility of that being a NOUN, or maybe even a SUBSTANTIVAL PARTICIPLE, but an unclear about how or where to insert the OR operator.

I know that someone on the forum here can point out the folly of my ways easily in a constructive manner.

For that, I offer my thanks.

Kevin Becker

David, from your screenshot it looks like you have the basic idea down. The thing that you forgot was to check off "Matching Skips Levels" on Words 1 and 2. Remember that if you don't check this off the search engine is going to looks for word nodes that come directly off the Clause Functions and that does not happen in the Cascadia graphs.

I opened Wallace's grammar to find some examples and constructed this search:

I drew the red box around the dotted lines that indicate "Matching skips levels." This search came back with quite a few results. It appears to have caught most, if not all, of Wallace's examples. Of course, there is the occasional Genitive absolute that doesn't have the noun/pronoun wouldn't be caught by this search (and I'm not certain how one might do a syntax search for those).

If I were to refine this search further I would find an article with an exhaustive list of Genitive absolutes (some scholar must have produced one at some point in time!) and check to see what superfluous hits were produced and what was missed and why.