1. Topic: Transformational Generative
Grammar
1-Generative Grammar
2-Properties of Generative Grammar
3-Deep & Surface Structure
4-Transformational Grammar
Presented by: Hafsa Naveed(81)
Dilawaiz Mohsin (41)
Areeba Fatima (26)
Muhammad Ali
2. Transformational Generative Grammar:
The most significant development in linguistic theory and
research in the 20th century was the rise of generative grammar
and, more especially, of transformational-generative grammar,
Two versions of transformational grammar were put forward in
the mid-1950s, the first by Zellig S. Harris and the second
by Noam Chomsky, his pupil.
Transformational generative Grammar theory was presented by
Noam Chomsky . This theory is about structure of sentence
(Syntax) in a language.
This theory tells us that how syntax is formed and learned.
3. Generative Grammar:
Generative grammar is a theory of grammar, first developed by
Noam Chomsky in the 1950s, that is based on the idea that all
humans have an innate language capacity.
This parts deals with the generation of sentences.
In linguistics, generative grammar is grammar (the set of
language rules) that indicates the structure and interpretation of
sentences that native speaker of a language accept as belonging to
their language.
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It is based on the idea that all humans have an innate (present at
birth but not necessily heredity acquired durning fatal
development) language capacity.
Linguistics for Non-Linguists: A Primer With Exercises, Frank
Parker and Kathryn Riley argue that generative grammar is a kind
of unconscious knowledge that allows a person, no matter what
language they speak, to form "correct" sentences.
Generative Grammar also uses generative devices such as
transformations, phrase structure rules, and lexical rules.
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Generative grammar is an important tool for linguists and
language teachers.
It allows them to describe language structure and analyze
language precisely.
In addition, generative grammar can be used to develop computer
programs that generate language and create artificial languages
for use in computer games and other applications .
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Generative grammars do not merely distinguish the grammatical
sentence of a language from ungrammatical sequences of words
of the same language; they also provide a structural description,
or syntactic analysis, for each of the grammatical sentences.
For Example:
“ The cat chased the mouse”
7. Properties of generative grammar
There are six properties of generative grammar.
● recursion
●compositionality
● displacement
●duality of patterning
●arbitrariness
● productivity.
8. Properties:
Recursion:
Recursion is the ability to embed one phrase within
another phrase of the same type. This allows for the creation of
infinitely long sentences.
Displacement:
Displacement is the ability to talk about things that are not
present in the immediate environment or time. This allows us to talk
about past, future, and hypothetical situations.
9. Properties:
Duality of patterning:
Duality of patterning refers to the fact that language is made
up of a small set of meaningless sounds (phonemes) that can be
combined in different ways to create an infinite number of
meaningful words. This allows for a great deal of flexibility and
creativity in language.
10. Compositionality
Compositionality is another important property of generative grammar. It
refers to the idea that the meaning of a sentence is determined by the
meanings of its individual parts and the way they are combined. In other
words, the meaning of a sentence is compositional, meaning that it can be
broken down into its constituent parts and analyzed in terms of their
individual meanings.
This is important because it allows speakers to understand the meaning of
novel sentences by analyzing the meanings of the individual words and
phrases that make them up.
11. Productivity
Productivity is a key property of generative grammar.
It refers to the idea that humans can use a finite set of rules to generate an
infinite number of sentences.
This is possible because languages have a recursive structure, which allows
speakers to combine words and phrases in novel ways to create new
meaning.
In other words, productivity allows speakers to create and understand
sentences that they have never heard before.
12. Deep and surface structure
Deep structure refers to concepts, thoughts ,ideas and
feelings.
Surface structure refers to the words /language we use to
represent the deep structure.
13. Deep and surface structure:
Surface structure is the actual spoken sentence comprising
phonemes, syllables, words, phrases, sentences, and deep
structure the underlying meaning of the sentence. A single idea
constituting a deep structure can be expressed in a number of
different surface structures (and conversely similar surface
structures can have completely different deep structures). For
example:
* John hits Fred (deep structure)
* John hit Fred, John was hitting Fred, Fred was hit by John
(surface structure)
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The surface structure is actually produced structure. It refers to
the sentence as it is pronounced or written.
The deep structure is the abstract structure that allows the native
speaker of a language to know what the sentence means.
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Deep structure expresses the semantic contents of a sentence.
Surface structure of a sentence determines its phonetic form.
Transformational grammar assigns a “deep structure” and a “surface
structure” to show the relationship of such sentences.
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The deep structure then provides the semantic component of
sentence, while the surface structure communicates the proper
phonological information to express that thought.
The distinction between deep and surface structure raised
controversies in the middle 1960s and with them the onset of the
so-called linguistic wars, especially with regard to the status of
deep structure.
17. Transformational Grammar:
In grammar, a transformation is a type of syntactic rule or
convention that can move an element from one position to
another in a sentence.
It comes from the Latin, "across forms" and is pronounced
"trans-for-MAY-shun." It is also known as a T-rule.
Transformational grammar, also called Transformational-
generative Grammar, a system of language analysis that
recognizes the relationship among the various elements of a
sentence and among the possible sentences of a language and uses
processes or rules (some of which are called transformations) to
express these relationships.
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Transformational grammar assigns a “deep structure” and a
“surface structure” to show the relationship of such sentences.
Thus, “I know a man who flies planes” can be considered the
surface form of a deep structure approximately like “I know a
man. The man flies’ airplanes.” The notion of deep structure can
be especially helpful in explaining ambiguous utterances;
e.g., “Flying airplanes can be dangerous” may have a deep
structure, or meaning, like “Airplanes can be dangerous when
they fly” or “To fly airplanes can be dangerous.”
19. Examples of Transformational Grammar:
Passive Agent Deletion. In many instances, we delete
the agent in passive sentences, as in sentence 6:
6. The cake was eaten.
When the subject agent is not identified, we use an indefinite
pronoun to fill the slot where it would appear in the structure, as
in 6a:
6a. [Someone] ate the cake.
This deep structure, however, would result in the surface structure
of 6b:
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6b. The cake was eaten [by someone].
To account for sentence 6, T-G grammar proposes a deletion rule
that eliminates the prepositional phrase containing the subject
agent. We can say, therefore, that sentence has undergone
two transformations, passive and passive agent deletion."
21. References:
Parker, Frank, and Kathryn Riley. Linguistics for Non-Linguists:
A Primer With Exercises. 5th ed., Pearson, 2009.
House, 1982.
– James Dale Williams, The Teacher's Grammar Book, 2nd ed.
Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005.
