The object of this article is to illustrate a particular model of grammatical description by using it to describe the Terena phrase. This model can, for convenience, be given the label “structure-function.” Like any model it employs certain interrelated categories and terms which are mutually defining. Each category can only be understood in reference to the model as a whole.
This model sets up grammatical units which are hierarchically arranged. The hierarchy consists of a series of levels of description. At each level there is a grammatical unit and this grammatical unit gives its name to the level concerned. At a given level there is only one grammatical unit. Each such grammatical unit consists of one or more of the units next below it in the hierarchy.