Which term best describes the analysis of the underlying structure of text?

The term that best describes the analysis of the underlying structure of text is "parsing." Parsing involves breaking down a text into its components and analyzing how those components fit together within a structured framework, typically according to the rules of grammar. This process enables a deeper understanding of the relationships between words, phrases, and sentences, leading to insights about the meaning and structure of the text.

Parsing is essential in various applications, such as natural language processing, where understanding syntax and grammar plays a crucial role in interpreting human language accurately. By identifying parts of speech, syntactic roles, and the overall structure of sentences, parsing allows for detailed analysis that lays the groundwork for further linguistic or computational tasks.

While tokenization refers to the process of breaking text into smaller units or tokens, and segmentation typically deals with dividing text into meaningful segments, neither focuses on the structural relationships that parsing analyzes. Similarly, syntax pertains to the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences, but it does not encompass the analysis aspect that parsing implies.