[…] we assume that each clause must be described in terms of an abstract “underlying clause structure”, which is mapped onto the actual form of the corresponding linguistic expression by a system of “expression rules”, which determine the form, the order, and the intonation pattern of the constituents of the underlying clause structures, given their status within the underlying structures: (2) UNDERLYING CLAUSE STRUCTURES ↓ EXPRESSION RULES ↓ LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION The underlying clause structures is a complex abstract structure in which several levels or “layers” of formal and semantic organization have to be distinguished. As a first approximation to this structure, we can represent it as follows: (3) CLAUSE → “speech act” PROPOSITION → “possible fact” PREDICATION → “state of affairs” PREDICATE → “property/relation” applied toTERM(S) → “entity/entities” The construction of an underlying clause structure first of all requires a “predicate” which is to be applied to an appropriate number of “terms” of the appropriate types. Predicates designate properties or relations, while terms can be used to refer to entities.
- Dik (1989), a pag.45-46