Which term is the process of analyzing a text to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar?

• A. Parsing
• B. Order of acquisition
• C. Phatic speech
• D. Realia

Answer: (A)

Parsing is the process of analyzing a text to determine its grammatical structure according to a given formal grammar. It involves applying the grammar’s rules to the input string to reveal how words group into phrases and how those phrases relate to form a sentence, often producing a parse tree that shows the syntactic relationships. This concept is central in both linguistics and natural language processing because it converts a linear sequence of words into a structured representation of syntax. The other terms refer to different ideas: order of acquisition is about the order in which language features are learned, phatic speech concerns social functions like small talk, and realia are real-world objects used in teaching.