Page 383 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 29: Transformational and Phrase Structure Rules

Noun —> (boy, tree, idea, ice, class, Mr. Brown.) Notes
No —> [sg]
[pl]
4. Aux —> Tense + (Modal) + (Perfect) + (Progressive)
Tense—> (Pres)
(Past)
Modal—> can, may, must, shall, will
Perfect—> have EN
Progressive—> be + - ING
Flip-Flap rule : Let Af = Tense, - En, or - Ing
Af + Verb—>verb) + Af (e.g. pres do—> + pres/does
5. VP + Main Verb + Complement + (Adverbial)
∅
[NP ]
[Adjective ]
[Adverb of Place ]
[Adverb of Motion ]
Complement—> [NP + Adverb of Motion]
[Np + Adjective ]
[NP + Prep + NP ]
[Adjective + Prep + NP
The grammar given above employs braces and parentheses. The use of such devices represents a
claim about the possible kinds of rules a grammar can have. The claim is that a grammar allows for
certain choices and that these choices are of two kinds : the brackets { } represent an obligatory
choice, and the parentheses ( ) represent an optional choice. ”Likewise, the fact that the rules
are ordered represents a claim that the optimal grammar for any language is one that contains a set
of rules carefully arranged in sequence. A linguist is interested in other things than using ad hoc
rules and devices to cover data in a language he is vitally interested in, what kinds of claims his rules
seem to make about language in general, about speakers, and about such processes as language
acquisition.”
The formulations of the Phrase Structure Grammars make explicit the notion of rule, generation, and
explicitness of the IC analysis, but they too do not succeed in the kinds of task in which constituent
analysis failed.

Context-Sensitive Grammars
The chief defect of the rules above is that they are not context-sensitive. On the basis of these rules,
one may construct unacceptable sentences like the following :
1. The bachelor delivered a child.
2. A man married a man.
3. The tree ate the elephant.
4. The boys kills the snake.
5. The snake kill the boys.

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