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Topic 3 - Syntax - 3M

Transformational operations systematically alter deep structure to produce surface structure. The key operations are: 1) Passivization - Changes the object of an active sentence to the subject of a passive sentence. 2) Subject-auxiliary inversion - Moves the auxiliary verb in a statement to precede the subject to form a question. 3) WH-movement - Fronts a WH-word to the beginning of the clause and moves the auxiliary verb preceding the subject. 4) Relative clause formation - Embeds one clause into a noun phrase of another clause to produce extended structures using a relative pronoun. 5) PP preposing - Moves a prepositional phrase to precede the subject noun phrase

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153 views

Topic 3 - Syntax - 3M

Transformational operations systematically alter deep structure to produce surface structure. The key operations are: 1) Passivization - Changes the object of an active sentence to the subject of a passive sentence. 2) Subject-auxiliary inversion - Moves the auxiliary verb in a statement to precede the subject to form a question. 3) WH-movement - Fronts a WH-word to the beginning of the clause and moves the auxiliary verb preceding the subject. 4) Relative clause formation - Embeds one clause into a noun phrase of another clause to produce extended structures using a relative pronoun. 5) PP preposing - Moves a prepositional phrase to precede the subject noun phrase

Uploaded by

oringdebong71
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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TRANSFORMATIONAL OPERATIONS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

SYNTAX - 3

Passivization Subject-Auxiliary inversion WH-movement Relative clause formation. PP preposing

TRANSFORMATIONS

Also known as syntactic operations systematically alter the deep structure to produce a surface structure. They are structure dependent act on phrase structures. Structure not ambiguous Can alter phrase structures trees by moving, adding, or deleting elements.

TRANSFORMATIONS

Deep Structure (d-structure) SYNTACTIC OPERATIONS

Surface Structure ( s-structure)

Key words.

movement syntactic operation by which phrases can be rearranged in a sentence under specific conditions or constraints Deep structure (d- structures) clause in its base word order ( in English, SVO) before syntactic rules such as movement or deletion apply. Surface structure (s-structures) clause in its derived order after movement and deletion rules have applied.

T1
Passivization. - Object of the active sentence is the subject of the related passive sentence Example. a. The judge fined Jaime. ( active , d-struc. ) Jaime was fined by the judge. (passive, s-struc) b. John bought a laptop.

T- 2
Subject auxiliary inversion
the auxiliary in a statement moves to precede the subject to form a question. - requires a simple yes-or-no reply Example. a. She will swear to it. ( statement ) d-struct.
-

Will she swear to it ? ( question) s-struct. b. Jane is swimming.

T-3
Wh-questions 2 forms.
Echo question - echoes the form of a statement - Wh-word occurs in place of the questioned constituent. Example: 1. He is buying books.
a.

2.

He is buying what? Father is looking after his daughter today.

T-3
b. WH movements - WH-word is fronted and appears at the front of its clause. - The auxiliary verb appears in the position preceding the subject NP. Example: 1. He is buying what ?

What is he buying ?

Cont
Operates in two steps: - Rule 1: substitute the NP with a wh-word or phrase - Rule 2: movement of wh-word or phrase to sentence initial position. Example: DS - You talked to him Rule 1 You talked to whom? Rule 2 Whom did you talk to? SS - Whom did you talk to ?

T-4
Relative clause ( RC) formation.
One clause is embedded into an NP of another clause to produce extended structures. - RC contain a relative pronoun such as who, whom, whose, which, or that. - RC modify nouns and is known as head noun. Example: a. Ahmad copied the notes that the teacher gave.
-

T-5
PP preposing
The PP moves and precedes the NP in the subject position Example: a. He saw the star with a telescope.
-

With a telescope, he saw the star. b. He waited at the bus stop.

Tutorial 3

In pairs, complete transformational exercises e.g active to passive, statements to questions.

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