The simple sentence in transformational Grammar

(P. Roberts. English Syntax, New York, 1964)

 

A grammar is the description of the sentences of a language. There are two kinds of sentences: kernel sen­tences and transforms.                                                

[...] the main types of English kernel sentences [...] might be illustrated by such sentences as the follow­ing:

1 John is heroic (a hero). NP + be + substantive

2 John is in the room.   NP +be + Adv -p

3 John worked.       NP + VI    

4 John paid the bill.    NP + VT + NP

5 John became a hero (heroic). NP + Vb + substantive

6  John felt sad.        NP + Vs + Adj

7 John had a car.           NP + Vh + NP

 

* Adv-p = an adverbial modifier of place

VI = an intransitive verb

VT = a transitive verb

Vb = verbs of becoming

Vh = the verb ‘have’

 

TRANSFORMATION [...] The kernel is the part of English that is basic and fundamental. It is the heart of the grammar the core of the language. All other structures of English can be thought of as deriving from this kernel. All the more complicated sentences of English are derivations from, or the transformations of, the, K-terminal strings. For example, the question "Can John go?" is easily seen to be related to the statement "John can go." Given the K-terminal string for any sentence like "John can come," we can make it into a corresponding question by applying the rule for question-making. Such a rule is called a transformation rule. It tells us how to derive something from something else by switching things about, putting things in or leaving them out, and so on. Thus we derive "Can John go?" and "Did John go?" from "John can go" and "John went". But we can't derive "John can go" and "John went" from anything. There are no sentences underlying them. They are basic and fundamental, a part of the kernel.

It is in terms of kernel structures that all grammatical relations are defined. The kernel gives all the grammatical relations of the language. The grammat­ical relations are then carried over into transforms, so that they will hold among words which are arranged in many different ways and which may actually be widely separated.

For example, the sentence "The dog barked" indi­cates a certain relationship between the noun dog and the verb bark. We find exactly the same relationship in such transform as "The barking dog frightened me", "The barking of the dog kept us awake", "I hate dogs that are always barking". The relationship shown be­tween dog and sad in the kernel sentence "The dog is sad" carries over in the transforms "The sad dog wailed", "The dog's sadness was apparent", "I don't like dogs that are too sad".

We shall see that there are two kinds of transfor­mation rules: obligatory rules and optional rules. An obligatory rule is one that must be applied to produce a grammatical sentence. An optional rule is one that may be applied but doesn't have to be. Some obligatory rules apply only when certain elements occur in the sentence. Sometimes the elements do not occur, so the rule does not apply. One rule, however, applies to all kernel sentences, and we shall begin with that one.

It is a rule for putting the elements of the auxiliary in their proper order.Ответ 2 (конец)

Our first transformation rule is this: Af + v => v +Af. We call this rule T-af, in which T stands for transformation. The double arrow will be regularly used for transformation rules, distinguishing them from kernel rules.

T-af is an obligatory transformation rule. This means that it must be applied to every sequence of Af + v before a grammatical sentence can be produced. Every K-terminal string will contain at least one se­quence of Af + v. '

 

В. Постройте дистрибутивные и НС-модели для предложений:

1) She was sitting quietly in the departure lounge.

2) He has no qualifications.

3) I enjoy dealing with public.

4) They talked of his plans for the farm.

5) They’re bringing Kate to the party.

6) Actually that was my mistake.

7) John noticed a beautiful picture on the wall.

С. Прочтите статью П.Робертса и ответьте на следующие вопросы:

- Что такое обязательные (obligatory) и факультативные (optional) правила?

- Назовите правила переписывания (“rewriting rules”) и объясните их назначение

- Почему Робертс называет ядерные (kernel) предложения базовыми или фундаментальными (“basic” or “fundamental”)?

D. Проанализируйте деривационную историю (см. Бархударов Л.С, ук.соч.) следующих предложений:

1) The letter was brought in the afternoon

2) We took Jimmy on board and sailed off

3) There were three books on the table

4) We heard the cry down the corridor

5) John noticed a beautiful picture o the wall

Литература

1. Бархударов Л.С. Структура простого предложения современного английского языка. – М., 2008

2. Блох М.Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка. - М., 2010.

3. Гуревич В.В. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка. Сравнительная типология английского и русского языков. – М., 2010

4. Камшилова О.Н. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка (электр.учебник) – СПб., СПбУУЭ, 2011.

5. Ривлина А.А. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка (электр.учебник) – реж. доступа – http://www.bgpu.ru/site/content/kafs/engphil/rivlina/grammar/lectures/

СЕМИНАР 9. МОДЕЛЬ ЧЛЕНОВ ПРЕДЛОЖЕНИЯ

В КЛАССИЧЕСКОЙ И УНИВЕРСАЛЬНОЙ ГРАММАТИКЕ