Page 356 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes This grammar is neither a set of prescriptive rules, nor an inventory of data, but a general scientific
theory of language. It is the native speaker’s ability to use, produce and understand a natural language;
the ability to distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical, between grammatical and less
ungrammatical, the ability to interpret, certain grammatical strings even though elements of the
interpretation may not be physically present in the string; the ability to perceive ambiguity in a
grammatical string; the ability to preceive when two or more strings are synonymous.
Such a grammar is generative, explicit, predicting, simple, scientific, mechanical, economical and formal.
Components of a Transformational-Generative Grammar; Standard Theory
(1957)
A well-known linguist once remarked : ‘There are three things in life you must never run after : a
woman, a bus and a theory of transformational grammar—there will be another one along in a
moment.’
Many changes have been taking place in TG since its first inception in 1957. Chomsky himself had
modified many details in his grammar since the publication of Syntactic Structures (1957). A modified
version appeared in 1965 with the publications of the Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965) but
modifications are still being made. As there is no definitive version (nor does it look as if there is
likely to be one in the near future), it is perhaps most useful to approach transformational grammar
in its earliest formulation.
In Syntactic Structures the grammar is viewed as being in three components :
1. phrase structures (PS) component,
2. transformational (TFL) component, and
3. morphophonemic (MPH) component.
It is conventionally depicted as a kind of machine in which a sentence is pictured as progressing
through each of the components in turn, moving from deep structure to surface structure.

INITIAL PS TFL MPH PHONEMIC
ELEMENT COMPONENT COMPONENT COMPONENT REPRESENTATIONS
OF SENTENCES

The Phrase structure component generates the structure which underlies a kernel sentence by means
of rewrite rules (11.2). So (in a much simplified version) we might get :
PS Rules Strings
S —> NP + VP NP + VP (1st string)
VP —> V + NP NP + V + NP (2nd string)
NP Prop.
NP
D + N
Prop N + V + D + N (3rd string)
Prop. N John John + V + D + N (4th string)
D —> the John + V + the + N (5th string)
N—> door John + V + the + door (6th string)
V—>Aux MV John + Aux + MV + the + door (7th string)
Aux —> Tense John + tense + MV + the + door (8th string)
Tense —> past John + Past + MV + the + door (9th string)
MV-open John + Past + open + the + door K-terminal string)
*the door *John

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