T-unit

In linguistics, a T-unit (or minimally terminable unit) consists of the shortest grammatically allowable sentences into which writing can be split. The term T-unit was coined by Kellogg Hunt in 1965. Often, but not always, a T-unit is a sentence. More technically, a T-unit is a dominant clause 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, 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) 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, and fragments of clauses produced by ellipsis. Co-ordinate clauses were counted as two t-units. Elements not counted as t-units include backchannel 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)

In linguistics, a T-unit (or minimally terminable unit) consists of the shortest grammatically allowable sentences into which writing can be split. The term T-unit was coined by Kellogg Hunt in 1965. Often, but not always, a T-unit is a sentence. More technically, a T-unit is a dominant clause 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, 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) 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, and fragments of clauses produced by ellipsis. Co-ordinate clauses were counted as two t-units. Elements not counted as t-units include backchannel 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 Sentence (linguistics)

References

External links

Reading complexity judgments: Episode Foster, P., Tonkyn, A. and Wigglesworth, G. (2000). Measuring spoken language: a unit for all reasons Applied Linguistics 21/3:354-375.

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