right-branching (adj.)

A term used in GENERATIVE GRAMMAR to refer to a CONSTRUCTION whose complexity is represented on the right-hand side of a TREE diagram. The type of rule involved can be represented by X ⇒ Y + (X). For example, the phrase the book of the wife of the major . . . is a ‘right-branching’ or ‘right-recursive’ structure; it contrasts with the major’s wife’s book, which is LEFT-BRANCHING, and also with the notion of SELF-EMBEDDING.