INTRODUCTION
Since the 1950’s, particularly as an offshoot of the work done by the American linguist, Noam Chomsky, there have been attempts at producing a type of grammar which will have a ‘very explicit system of rules specifying what combinations of basic elements will result in well formed sentences’ (Yule, 1996, p.101).Such a grammar should have a number of properties which will include generating all the well formed sentences of the language and fail to generate any ill-formed ones. The grammar would have a finite number of rules but will be capable of generating an infinite number of well formed sentences. In this way, the ability of language users to create totally new sentences in every situation will be possible within the grammar. The rules of this grammar should be recursive; that is, should be capable of being applied more than once in generating the structure. These were some of the ideas that led to transformational generative grammar.
3.1 Transformational Generative Grammar
Transformational Grammar (TG) was first formulated by Zellig Harris in 1951. It was expanded by Noam Chomsky in 1957 with the publication of his Syntactic Structures and revised in 1965 with Chomsky’s Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. The main characteristic of TG is the use of formulas, a practice which is not new in the field of grammatical theory but TG uses formulas with a high degree of accuracy and complexity. Compared with Traditional grammar TG is said to be a more powerful model combining phrase structure and grammatical transformations (Chomsky, 1957 p.80)
In its early stage the concept of ‘kernel’ sentences was central to TG.
The kernel consists of simple, declarative active sentences … all other sentences can be described as transforms (Chomsky, 1957, p.80).
Transforms are ‘these sentences derivable by the largely nonrecursive phrase-structure level of the grammar (Lees, 1957,p. 405).
From the two definitions of ‘kernel sentences and transforms the following deductions can be made:
•all compound and complex sentences are transforms;
•all question sentences are transforms;
•all passive sentences are transforms;
This means, according to Chomsky (1957,p.45), that:
every sentence of the language will either belong to the kernel or will be derived from the strings underlying one or more kernel sentences by a sequence of one or more transformations.
This notion of the kernel sentence as the basis of generating other sentences was abandoned in the revised TG theory of 1965. A linguistic transformation is a process that involves the change of one linguistic structure to another as for instance, the change of the active to the passive (cf Tomori, 1977, p 66). This type of change is recognized in traditional grammar too. The sentences
1. Etim washed the car
2. The car was washed by Etim
demonstrate this structural change. Transformational grammar then is a type of grammar that tries to explain the rules which govern structural changes and the formation of utterances. According to Allen and Buren (1971,p.35) ‘a grammatical transformation T operates on a given string with a given constituent structure and converts it to a new string with a new derived constituent structure.
A given string means a grammatically acceptable morpheme e.g. Okon killed the snake SVO. Converted to the passive voice it becomes The snake was killed by Okon. A string may be a sentence or a part of a sentence as in Etim’s wife; the wife of Etim. TG tries to explain how a native speaker forms and understands sentences in his native language. The ability of a native speaker is referred to as Competence. What the native speaker does when he uses language on specific occasions is referred to as Performance. Performance therefore reflects a native speaker’s competence. T.G. attempts to explain the knowledge found in a native speaker of a language which enables him to form sentences without being taught from his knowledge of the language. TG. Rules suggest the principles that can aid sentence formation.
The term generate is often used in T.G. which is also often referred to as Transformational Generative Grammar. When a rule is said to generate a sentence it means that the rule describes how the particular string or linguistic element is formed and also how potential sentences can be formed. This makes transformational grammar a grammar of competence rather than a grammar of Performance like Traditional Grammar. TG relies on three levels of rules: Phrase Structure, Transformational Structure and Morphophonemics. Each has its own set of writing rules.
SELF ASSESMENT EXERCISE 1
1. Explain the terms: transformational grammar, competence and performance.
2. What does it mean to say that a rule generates a sentence in transformational grammar?
3.2 Phrase Structure (or F) Rules
A phrase structure grammar is one that analyses utterances in terms of its syntactic constituents (Tomori, 1977, p.67) which are S (Subject) V (verb) O (Object) A (Adjunct) C (Complement). For instance the sentence Etim killed the snake has the syntactic components or constituents: subject + verb + object. This phrase structure grammar which is often considered an improvement on Traditional Grammar only analyses the constituents of a sentence without saying anything about how it is derived. For instance it does not say how the sentence is derived neither does it explain the rules that allow the use of killed rather than kill and why Etim is placed before the and why snake comes after the. What it does is simply describe the structure of the sentence.
In Phrase Structure Grammar the instruction formulas are known as Rewrite Rules. These rules are given by Chomsky in Syntactic Structures (1957) as:
(1) Sentence - NP + VP.
This means rewrite a sentence as NP (Noun Phrase) + VP (Verb Phrase) or simply the constituents of a sentence are a Noun Phrase and a Verb Phrase.
(2) NP = T + N
This means rewrite NP as T and N where T means a determiner such as a or the and N means a noun.
(3) VP = Verb + NP
In a sentence such as: The man killed the snake: T = the, N = Man, Snake and Verb = killed.
According to the rules of phrase structure grammar as given by Chomsky the full derivation of the sentence: The man killed the snake is as follows:
S NP + VP
T N + VP
T + N + Verb + NP
The + N + Verb + NP
The man + Verb + NP
The man + killed + T + N
The man + killed + the + N
The + man + killed + the + snake
The constituent structure of the sentence can also be shown in what is
known as atree diagram or a phrase marker thus:
Sentence
Every point where there is a branch
A line that leads from the node. There can be
as many branches as there are constituents.
A node that has nothing below it except a
word.
The last line or the sequence of beneath a PS
diagram
Constituents at the same node
In a phrase structure grammar, the phrase structure markers (or phrase
markers) include:
S - Sentence
NP
V
PP Prepositional Phrase
T (ART) - Article
N - Noun
P - Preposition
ADJ - Adjective
PART - Particle
Constituent structure organisations or word order are described by
Phrase Structure (PS) rules or in the words of Chomsky rewrite rules:
A. S - NP VP
The constituents of sentences are a Noun Phrase and a verb phrase
B. NP - (ART) (ADJ) N means
A noun phrase must contain a noun and may contain an article, an adjective or both
C. VP - V (NP) (PP) means
A verb phrase contains a verb V, a compulsory element and a noun phrase or prepositional phrase as optional element
D. PP - N NP means
A prepositional phrase contains a preposition and a noun phrase as compulsory elements.
The main limitations of phrase structure grammar are:
•The rules directing the formation of utterances only describes the syntactic structures of most utterances.
•It does not stipulate the proper order of application of the rules to produce well formed sentences.
•The taxonomic view of syntax is also found in phrase structure grammar. This is the tendency to classify linguistic elements into groups to explain them as seen in traditional grammar where words were classified into parts of speech.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
What are the limitations of Phrase Structure Grammar?
3.3 Transformational Structure Rules
The second level in transformational grammar is that of transformational structure. Five transformational rules operate at this level. These are:
1. T and. This is the rule for conjoining sentences e.g.
the scene - of the play - was in Lagos
the scene - of the accident - was in Lagos
become
The scene of the play and of the accident was in Lagos
2. T Af – This is the rule for deriving the correct form of the verb in a sentence e.g. -ed added to kill as in:
The man killed the snake – where the correct form of the verb is killed or
She likes rice where the correct form of the verb is likes
3. Tp is the transformational rule for deriving the passive form from
the active form e.g.
Okon washed the car
The car was washed by Okon
4. Tnot is the rule for forming the negative versions from positive
sentences e.g. positive
She can draw (Positive)
She cannot draw. (Negative)
5. Tq is the rule for forming questions from positive sentences e.g.
She can draw.
Can she draw?
3.4 Morphophonemic Rules
The third level in transformational grammar is morphophonemic structure. This is the level where the string of morphemes comprising a terminal string is converted into the sounds of a language. For instance the morpheme
{stand} + {past} becomes stood
Rules that govern the phonetic realization of morphemes are called
morphophonemic rules.
Transformational grammar was revised in 1965 in Chomsky’s Aspects of the Theory of Syntax to cater for certain loopholes found in syntactic structures. For instance therewriting rules did not specify context e.g.
S → NP + VP
does not specify what type of NP can go with what V.P. In traditional grammar for instance we know that not every verb can take an object;
not every English verb is transitive e.g. In:
The dog frightened the boy
S → NP + VP + NP
The verb frightened takes a direct object.
but in the sentence:
Two weeks have elapsed
S → NP + VP.
The VP have elapsed does not take a direct object.
Chomsky’s modification introduces subcategorisation rules and selectional rules to show, for instance, what verbs can be used in what sentence patterns. For instance in the sentences which may fit into the same type of frame: NP+VP+NP
The darkness may frighten the girl and
John loves Mary
Although the two sentences can fit into the same frame, it is not specified what type of NP can go with what type of VP. This is because it is not every VP in the English language that can go with every NP. In the terms of traditional grammar, this means that not every verb in English can take a direct object; not every English verb is transitive (Tomori, 1977,p.76).
The rules which Chomsky introduced to restrict certain classes of words to certain syntactic frames are known as subcategorisation rules while the rules introduced to describe the restrictions on the co-occurrence of certain linguistic items are known as selectional rules. Tomori (1977) illustrates this point with the following sentence:
The fierce dog may frighten the boy.
According to the context free rewriting rules of the grammar this sentence can be rewritten thus:
S NP+VP +NP
may frighten is an example of a verb phrase which takes an object in the English language. But another sentence:
Two weeks elapsed
has therewriting rule: S NP+VP . This shows that the verb elapsed is one of the English verbs that do not take an object. Subcategorisation rules are therefore meant to show what verbs can go together in what sentence patterns (p. 77)
3.5 Deep and Surface Structure
The concept of deep and surface structure was also developed in 1965 by Chomsky. The deep structure of a sentence refers to the basic (underlying) meaning of a sentence derived from its syntactic and semantic components, while the surface structure is the form in which the sentence appears phonologically or orthographically; that is, according to Eka (1994, p.21) those aspects of the sentence which can be determined through an examination of the ways the sentence is spoken or written. For instance the sentences
a. Your clothes need washing
b. Your friends keep coming
appear to have the same surface structure but their deep structures are different. Sentence (a) is derived from two basic sentences:
Your clothes are dirty; Someone must wash them
(b) has only one sentence as its basis – In the language of traditional grammar, (a) is active in form but passive in meaning while (b) is active in both form and meaning.
Also in 1965, the concept of the kernel sentence was abandoned in favour of the concept of the ‘basis of a sentence’ which is explained as ‘the sequence of base phrase-markers that underlies it’ (Chomsky, 1965, p.128). Thus a sentence is (a) basic string’ if the phrase-marker underlying it is only one as in your friends keep coming. The sentence: Your clothes need washing has as its basis, the sequence of two phrase markers: your clothes are dirty; someone must wash them.
Transformations that operate on single phrase markers are known as singularly transformations as seen in the following:
•Okon embraced Ekaette → Ekaette was embraced by Okon Tp
•We shall succeed → Shall we succeed Tq
•The food was delicious → The food wasn’t delicious Tnot
In the first sentence the singularly transformation operates on an active sentence making it passive; in the second sentence transformation changes a declarative sentence to a question while in the third sentence the transformation changes a positive to a negative sentence.
When transformations operate on two or more phrase-markers to produce a new phrase marker either by embedding or by conjoining the transformation is known as generalised transformation as in the following:
She was leaving
She said so
→ She said that she was leaving
The woman had no child
The woman bought the house
→ The woman who bought the house has no child
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
Illustrate the following transformation rules with your own examples T and, T Af, Tnot, Tq and Tp.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Transformational grammar and transformational generative grammar constitute what could be considered the third phase in the development of grammatical models. Their most significant contribution is the processes and rules evolved to address structural transformations in language.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit the following points have been made:
•Transformational grammar (TG) is a type of grammar that tries to explain the rules which govern structural changes and the formation of utterances.
•It tries to explain how a native speaker forms and understands sentences in his native language.
•The ability of a native speaker is referred to as Competence.
•What the native speaker does when he/she uses language on specific occasions is referred to as Performance.
•TG relies on three levels of rules: Phrase Structure, Transformational Structure and Morphophonemics. Each has its own set of writing rules. •A phrase structure grammar analyses utterances in terms of its
syntactic constituents which are SVOAC
•The second level in transformational grammar is that of transformational structure.
•Five transformational rules operate at this level. These are:Tand, Tp, TAf, Tq and Tnot.
•The third level in transformational grammar is morphophonemic structure.
•This is the level where the string of morphemes comprising a terminal string is converted into the sounds of a language.
•The deep structure of a sentence refers to the basic (underlying) meaning of a sentence derived from its syntactic and semantic components
• The surface structure is the form in which the sentence appears phonologically or orthographically.
ANSWER TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. Explain the terms: transformational grammar, competence and performance.
i. Transformational grammar (TG) is a type of grammar that tries to
explain the rules which govern structural changes and the formation of utterances.
ii. It tries to explain how a native speaker forms and understands
sentences in his native language.
iii. The ability of a native speaker is referred to as Competence.
iv. What the native speaker does when he uses language on specific
occasions is referred to as Performance.
2. What does it mean to say that a rule generates a sentence in transformational grammar?
When a rule is said to generate a sentence it means that the rule describes how the particular string or linguistic element is formed and also how potential sentences can be formed.
ANSWER TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
The limitations of Phrase Structure Grammar
The main limitations of phrase structure grammar are:
1. The rules directing the formation of utterances only describe the syntactic structures of most utterances.
2. It does not stipulate the proper order of application of the rules to produce well formed sentences.
3. The taxonomic view of syntax is also found in phrase structure
grammar. This is the tendency to classify linguistic elements into groups to explain them as seen in traditional grammar where words were classified into parts of speech.
ANSWER TO SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
Illustrate the following transformation rules with your own examples
T and, T Af, Tnot, Tq and Tp
Candidates are to give their own examples to illustrate the
transformational rules as shown below:
1. T and. This is the rule for conjoining sentences e.g.
the scene - of the play - was in Lagos
the scene - of the accident - was in Lagos
become
The scene of the play and of the accident was in Lagos
2. TAf - This is the rule for deriving the correct form of the verb in a sentence e.g. The man killed the snake - where the correct form of the verb is killed or she likes rice where the correct form of the verb is likes
The rule TAf also states how affixes are attached to base words to produce the correct forms of the words in question. It applies to verbs as well as nouns.
3. Tp is the transformational rule for deriving the passive form from
the active form e.g. Okon washed the car
The car was washed by Okon
4. Tnot is the rule for forming the negative versions from positive
sentences e.g. She can draw (Positive)
She cannot draw. (Negative)
5. Tq is the rule for forming questions from positive sentences e.g.
She can draw.
Can she draw?
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. To what extent is transformational grammar an improvement on earlier grammars?
2. Trace the transformational history of the following sentences:
(i) The man who came here is a medical doctor (ii) The play was not entertaining.
(iii) Should I come with you
(iv) The food was cooked by my mother.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. Mouton: The Hague.
Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. MIT Press.
Eka, D. (1994). Elements of Grammar and Mechanics the English
Language. Uyo: Samuf Educational.
Lees,R.B.(1957). Review of Chomsky. Language, 33, 88-97.
Tomori, S.H.O. (1977). The Morphology and Syntax of Present - Day English. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.
Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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