Page 380 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes

a b
a + a + b + b
or a a b b

Terminal String
a a b b is a grammatical sentence of the language.
Chomsky has demonstrated convincingly and conclusively that the framework of the phrase structure
grammar enables us to derive the sentences of an artificial language. The formation, the axiom, the
rules of formation and the theorem (that is, the sentence) are neat, precise and easy. The specification
of the required set of sentences is complete.
Phrase Structure Expansion rules re-write one symbol into another (from left to right) until we reach
the ultimate constituents beyond which we have left nothing on the right hand to expand. For example,
we can derive the deep or underlying string of the following sentence by framing the following PS
rules :
Sentence : The boy admires sincerity.
The Sentence is S
S —> NP + VP (Rule No. 1)
VP —> Aux. + V + NP (Rule No. 2)
NP —> (Det)N (Rule No. 3)
Aux. —> Tense (Rule No. 4)
Det. —> Article (Rule No. 5)
N —> boy, sincerity (Rule No. 6)
Tense —> Present (Rule No. 7)
Article —> the (Rule No. 8)
The string we get is
S [the + boy + pres + admire + sincerity] S
We can represent the above by a tree-diagram and reach P-markers (Phrase markers) :

S

AUX
NP
VP
DET N TENSE
V NP
ART DET N

THE BOY PRES ADMIRE SINCERITY
This grammar enables us to decide the following :
1. The boy admires sincerity is a grammatical sentence of the English language.
2. The boy and sincerity are noun phrases.
3. admires sincerity is a verb phrase.
4. admires is a verb : the verb is in the present tense.
5. boy and sincerity are nouns (singular).

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