T-unit

{{Short description|Term in linguistics}}

{{For|the arcade system board|Midway T Unit}}

In linguistics, the term T-unit was coined by Kellogg Hunt in 1965.Hunt, K. (1965). [http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED113735&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED113735 Grammatical structures written at three grade levels]. NCTE Research Report No. 3. Champaign, IL, USA: NCTE. It is defined as the "shortest grammatically allowable sentences into which (writing can be split) or minimally terminable unit." 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),Robb, T., Ross, S., & Shortreed, I. (1986). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3586390 Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality]. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 83–93. or changes in accuracy per T-unit overdrafts of compositions may be measured (Sachs and Polio, 2007).Sachs, R., and Polio, C. (2007).[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=676824 Learners' uses of two types of written feedback on an L2 writing revision task.] Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29:67-100.

Young (1995){{cite journal|first1=Richard|last1=Young|title=Conversational Styles in Language Proficiency Interviews|journal=Language Learning|year=1995 |pages=3–42|volume=45|issue=1|doi=10.1111/j.1467-1770.1995.tb00961.x}} 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)