Lecture № 9 Two base transformations

S₁+S₂ SSS

S₁ + S₂ S₃

An utterance may consist of two or more sentences.

In any sentence sequence in a super-sentencial structure the first sentence is a situation or a leading one, the second is a sequential sentence:

He's just been over there (situation sentence)

So have I. (sequential sentence)

The sequential sentence has a special form which signals its connection with the situation sentence. The connection may be made clear through the use of the following means:

(1) A substitute:

The boy has just brought the papers. They are at the door.

(2) The addition of a functional word (and a substitute):

(a) co-ordinator.

I did everything for Angela. And she didn't even thank me.

(b) a sentence-connector.

John had not done his work regularly. Consequently he got a low mark.

(3) Permutation:

He decided on a letter. This letter he addressed to his friend.

(4) Permutation, a substitute and a function word:

Peter left. So did I.

"Many sentences which have what might be called complex structures can be analysed as containing a sequence of two or more sentences or sentence structures, some or all of which have special forms: 'I met him coming back'. In all these cases the sections with special forms can be shown to be transforms of ordinary independent sentences..."

In other words, any compound or any complex sentence is also a sen­tence sequence.

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Transformations in sentence sequences reveal the mechanism by which two or more sentences can be joined into one larger structural pattern:S₁+S₂ S₃, where S₁ is a matrix sentence; S₂ is an insert sentence.

Transformations in sequences are carried out through the following proc­ess:

(1) conjunction which consists in co-ordinating two sentences by means of co-ordinators: 'and', 'but', 'or', 'nor', discontinuous or correlative conjunctions 'either... or', 'neither... nor' and pauses (asyndetic connection);

(2) the addition of function words:

(a) sentence-connectors which unlike conjunctions can shift their position by moving around the sentence. They are: 'so', 'thus', 'however', 'consequently', etc.:

(b) conjunctives, function words which are unspecified in the sense that they are selected freely without referring to any antecedent. The conjunctives are: 'what', 'who', 'which', 'whatever', etc.;

(c) subordinators which like sentence-connectors do not replace any ele­ment, but are merely added to the insert sentence to transform it into a clause: subordinators signal subordination of one clause to the other. They are: 'that', 'than', 'because', 'as if ', 'if, 'even though', the discontinuous 'so... that', 'as... as', etc.;

3. embedding is the insertion into a certain position in the matrix sentence;

4. substitution which consists in replacing elements of the insert sentence by their nounal, verbal, adverbial or adjectival.

The substitutes are subdivided into:

(a) N-substitutes: 'she', 'he', 'if ', 'they', 'that', 'another', 'other', 'none', 'both', and the relatives 'who', 'which', 'where', 'that', 'as', etc.

2. V-substitutes: 'do', 'will', 'shall', 'to', 'have', 'can', etc.

3. D-substitutes: 'so', 'that way', 'like that', etc.

4. A-substitutes: 'such', 'like this', etc.;

5. zeroing or deletion of a word characterized by a zero-filled position with a neatly specified antecedent;

6. adjustment which consists in transforming an element of the sequential sentence on the morphological level (see T-AUX in simple sentences);

7. permutation consists in any rearrangement of linguistic elements (words or segments of speech);

8. word-sharing which consists in two sentences overlapping round a common or a shared word.

These procedures are generally not applied singly, but more often than not combine with one another. They are applied to change the structure of the insert sentence which is then embedded or attached to the first matrix sentence.

In non-transformational grammars the matrix sentence is termed 'a main clause'.