Lecture 6, Chomsky Flashcards
Generative grammar:
A theory of grammar that aims to describe the implicit knowledge that speakers have about the structure and formation of sentences in their language. It was developed by Noam Chomsky, and it focuses on rules that generate grammatically correct sentences.
String of pearls model:
A simplistic model of sentence structure where words are strung together like pearls on a string, without recognizing the hierarchical structure of language. This model is inadequate because it fails to account for complex relationships between words and phrases in sentences.
Phrase structure grammar:
A type of generative grammar that describes the hierarchical organization of sentences using rules that break sentences down into their constituent parts (e.g., NP, VP) in a tree-like structure.
Surface structure:
The outward form of a sentence, or how a sentence is physically or audibly realized. It contrasts with deep structure, which is the underlying syntactic structure that conveys meaning.
Deep structure:
The underlying syntactic structure or meaning of a sentence, which can be transformed into various surface structures. For example, the active and passive versions of a sentence might have the same deep structure but different surface structures.
Structural ambiguity:
A phenomenon where a sentence can have more than one interpretation due to its structure, such as “Flying planes can be dangerous,” which could mean either that the act of flying planes is dangerous or that planes that are flying are dangerous.
Standard Theory:
The earlier version of Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar (TGG) that included both deep and surface structures, transformational rules, and a focus on syntax as central to linguistic competence.
Transformations
Rules in transformational grammar that convert a sentence from its deep structure to its surface structure. For example, a transformation might change a statement from active to passive.
Transformational grammar:
A type of generative grammar that uses transformations to derive surface structures from deep structures. It involves syntactic operations that manipulate sentence structure.
Transformational rules:
Rules that describe how one sentence structure can be transformed into another, such as changing a declarative sentence into a question or an active sentence into a passive one.
T-rules:
Abbreviation for transformational rules, used to refer to the specific syntactic rules that govern transformations in sentences.
T-passive:
A transformational rule that changes an active sentence into a passive sentence. For example, “The dog chased the cat” becomes “The cat was chased by the dog.”
T-conjunction reduction:
A transformational rule that reduces redundant elements in coordinate structures. For example, “John likes ice cream, and John likes cake” becomes “John likes ice cream and cake.”
Universal Grammar (UG):
: A theory proposed by Chomsky that suggests humans are born with an innate ability to acquire language, and all human languages share a common underlying structure.
The problem of learnability:
The issue of how children are able to learn complex languages so quickly and effectively despite limited exposure to data, known as the “poverty of the stimulus.” Universal Grammar is proposed as a solution to this problem.
