- •The Subject Matter of Grammar
- •The Evolution of English Grammars
- •The XX th Century Linguistic Schools
- •Prague Linguistic School (Functional Linguistics)
- •American Descriptive Linguistics
- •Transformational and Transformational Generative Grammar
- •Semantic Syntax
- •Methods of Linguistic Analysis
- •Parsing (Traditional Syntactic Analysis)
- •The Oppositional Method
- •The Distributional method
- •The ic Method (method of immediate constituents)
- •The Transformational Method
- •The Method of Deep and Surface Structures
- •The Functional Sentence Perspective Method (fsp)
- •The Componential Method
- •The Contextual Method
- •The Levels of Language
- •The Morphological Structure of me
- •The Classifications of Morphemes
- •Paradigmatics and Syntagmatics
- •The Asymmetry of a Linguistic Sign
- •Parts of Speech Classifications of Parts of Speech.
- •Notionals and Functionals
- •Heterogeneity
- •Field and Periphery
- •Subcategorization
- •Onomaseological approach
- •The Noun The General Properties of a Noun
- •The Category of Gender.
- •The Category of Number
- •The Category of Case
- •Debated Problems within the Category of Case
- •Genitive Constructions (n’s n)
- •The Article Debated Problems
- •The Functions of Articles in a Sentence
- •The Verb The General Properties of a Verb
- •The Category of Tense
- •Classifications of Tenses
- •The Future Tense
- •The Present Tense
- •The Past Tense
- •The Future-in-the-Past Tense
- •The Category of Aspect
- •The Category of Time Relation (or Correlation)
- •The Category of Voice
- •The Category of Mood
- •The Indicative Mood
- •The Imperative Mood
- •The Subjunctive Mood
- •Points of Similarities with the Finites
- •Points of Differences with the Finites
- •Debated Problems within The Verbals
- •The Functions of Non-Finites
- •Types of Syntax
- •The theory of the phrase
- •Devices of Connecting Words in a Phrase
- •Debated Problems within the Theory of the Phrase
- •Classifications of Phrases
- •The theory of the simple sentence
- •The Definition of a Sentence
- •Syntactic Modelling of the Sentence
- •Semantic Modelling of the Sentence
- •The Notion of a Syntactic Paradigm
- •Structural Classification of Simple Sentences
- •Predicative Constructions Within a simple sentence we distinguish primary and secondary (independent/ dependent) elements, the structural nucleus and its adjuncts.
- •Syntactic Processes
- •The Principal Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •The Secondary Parts of a Simple Sentence
- •An Object
- •An Adverbial Modifier
- •An Attribute
- •Debated Problems within a Simple Sentence
- •A composite sentence
- •A Compound Sentence
- •I. The General Notion of a Complex Sentence.
- •2. The Status of the Subordinate Clause.
- •3.1. Classifications of Subordinate Clauses.
- •3.2. Types of Subordinate Clauses.
- •4. Connections between the Principal and the Subordinate Clause.
- •5. Neutralization between Subordination and Coordination.
- •6. The Character of the Subordinating Conjunction
- •7. Levels of Subordination
- •Syntactic Processes in the Complex Sentence.
- •9. Communicative Dynamism within a Composite Sentence( Compound and Complex) and a Supra-phrasal Unit.
The Transformational Method
This method is based on the notions of a kernel , which is the simplest elementary subject-predicate structure with explicit grammatical relations, transformation which is a process of rearranging elements in syntactic structures with meanings being kept unchanged, transformation rules (addition is adding elements, deletion is cutting elements out, substitution is replacing one element by another one in the same position , permutation is replacing elements (putting from the beginning into the end and vice versa) : John drank his beer => the beer was drunk by John. Recategorization consists in changing the category of an element (verbalization of a noun, nominalization of a verb, etc).
The transformational method rearranges syntactic structures keeping their meanings unchanged. Its postulates are : if two or more structures are transformed identically, their meanings are identical; if two or more structures are transformed differently, their meanings are different.
This method has a broad sphere of application. We can clarify relations between structures, reveal semantic similarities and differences between structures disambiguate ambiguous structures, reveal covert information from implicit relations, etc. Transforming identical Genitives we reveal their internal differences: Napoleon’s victory => Napoleon won a victory over someone (subjective genitive). Napoleon’s defeat => Somebody has won the victory over Napoleon (objective Genitive). A Soldier’s uniform => a uniform habitually worn by a soldier (descriptive genitive). Children’s bedroom => the room for children (destination Genitive). John’s arrival => John arrives, John arrived, will arrive (temporary Genitive)
By means of Transformational method we can disambiguate ambiguous structures:
The King’s portrait => The King has a portrait of somebody.
The King has a portrait of himself.
The King has drawn a portrait of somebody.
Somebody has a portrait of the king, etc.
Transformational method can interpret syntactic homonymy:
Vanessa is impossible to help. => It is impossible to help Vanessa.
Vanessa is anxious to help. => *It is anxious to help Vanessa.
John made her a present. => He made a present to her.
John made her a star. => He made a star of her.
Transformational method is more powerful as it reveals hidden implicit relations between the constituents of a sentence (The rain falls greyly => the rain is falling and it is grey).
By this method we can interpret double predicates: The moon rose red => the moon rose and it was red. Rose is an explicit predicate and is red is an implicit one. We can also describe a predicate of double orientation: He is said to have come; he to have come is a Subjective with the infinitive construction, he is a subject; is said to have come is a predicate of double orientation as to have come refers to the subject and is said refers to a subject beyond the border of the sentence => they say that he has come.
By means of this method we can analyze neutralization between coordination and subordination: He married early which surprised everybody => Him married early and that surprised everybody (a complex sentence with an attributive clause is transformed into a compound sentence, the semantic difference between them being neutralized).
By means of this method we can analyze predicative constructions with infinitives, gerunds, participles.
A simple sentence carrying a predicative construction with a non-finite form of the verb can be analyzed into a complex sentence with a subordinate clause where the formerly non-finite form is presented as a finite form functioning as a simple verbal predicate: He heard music coming from the room inside => he heard that the music was coming from the room inside. He was happy with the whole universe to improve => he was happy because he was to improve the whole universe.