句法研究

The term transformational-generative grammar was introduced into linguistics in the mid-1950s by Noam Chomsky. Chomsky is much interested in the study of the similarities between languages rather than their differences. He holds the view that linguists should first attempt to find a grammatical framework which will be suitable for all languages. Secondly within this framework, they should concentrate not so much on elements that actually occur in all languages; thirdly, there are likely to be universal constraints on the ways in which linguistic elements can be combined. Competence / performance Internalised set of rules / actual utterances
Assignment Chapter One 1. What are properties/ design features of language? 2. What is pragmatics? What is sociolinguistics? What is applied linguistics? 3. Can you list some general functions of language? Try to provide some examples to illustrate your points.
It is believed that phrase structural rules, with the insertion of the lexicon, generate sentences at the level of D-structure, while application of syntactic movement rules transforms a sentence from the level of Dstructure to that S-structure. Phrase Structure Rules + the Lexicon D-structure Movement rules S-strue structure He is anxious to teach. He is difficult to teach. They have a similar surface structure, but different deep structure. This can be illustrated by tree diagram. Definitions (p111; p112) Deep structure contains all the units and relationships that are necessary for interpreting the meaning of the sentence. Surface structure is that of the sentence as it is pronounced or written.
Concord and Government (一致和支配） Grammatical concord (p. 109) Notional concord, e.g. Fifteen miles seems/seem like a long walk to me. Principle of proximity Not only his children but he himself is/are hoping to be there. Pronoun concord Every passenger has to carry his own luggage. Nobody wants to go there, does he?/do they? What they want are promises. What I say and think are no business of yours.
Transformational aspect This is largely concerned with the analysis of sentences and the relationship between them. Simply put, transformation refers to a kind of process that transforms one sentence into another. There are plenty of sentences in English which are related. Pairs of active and passive sentences Affirmative and interrogative sentences e.g. John saw Mary. Did John see Mary?
Transformation 1 Deletion This function is clearly illustrated by the imperative transformation. You will be quiet is transformation into Be quiet. Here you and will are assumed to exist only in deep structure. Deep structure: someone must help Mary. After T-passive: Mary must be helped by someone (an optional indefinite agent).
2 Copying This can be illustrated by tag transformation. He is coming, isn’t he? 3. Addition You have read the story, have not you? 4. Reordering He goes home on Sundays. On Sundays he goes home.
PS-rules, phrase structure rules, rewrite rules S NP VP VP V NP NP DET N DET the, a, any, some, etc. N boy, man, ball, book, etc. NP Det N (a / the man) the man that wears glasses a tall man with glasses the tall man with glasses that I met VP V S (think that he should buy an English book) advise him in a writing class that he should buy an English dictionary)
Generative aspect This means that a grammar must ‘generate all and only the grammatical sentences of a language’. In other words, the grammar must be so designed that by following its rules and conventions we could produce all or any of the possible sentences of language. A generative grammar is not concerned with any actual set of sentences of the language, but with the possible set of sentences. It has a finite number of rules which allow us to generate a infinite number of sentences of the language.