Re: What was Noam Chomsky's contribution to *LINGUISTICS*?

Helmut Richter wrote:
>
> Peter T. Daniels:
>
> > UG is what all languages have in common, or what all infants have that
> > enable them to construct the grammar of their own language(s) on the
> > basis of minimal input.
> >
> > Deep structure is when a passive sentence is "really" an active sentence
> > that undergoes "transformations."
>
> Assume for the sake of the argument that the Chomsky model works without
> problems (which it does not: opinions differ whether it works with
> problems or whether it does not work at all). We have a universal grammar
> defining a universal language U, and all real language R can be produced
> by a transformation, one for each language, that maps sentences of U into
> sentences of R. Then one could say that U is defined by the universal
> grammar (using the first terminology) or else that a sentence s of R is
> "really" the sentence of U that is mapped to s by the transformation
> (using the second terminology). Or is "deep structure" an intermediate
> step, so that the whole diagram is
>
> U ---> D ---> R
>
> with two distinct transformations?

"Transformations" have nothing to do with UG vs. real languages.

A transformation takes you from "Mary kissed John" to "John was kissed
by Mary."
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Source-to-source transformation: best approach?
    ... I don't know why TXL would be especially suited for source to source ... this for wide classes of language (in the sense that I have looked at ... its derivative, Stratego), and my tool, DMS. ... RecDescent for my long-term source to source transformation needs. ...
    (comp.compilers)
  • Re: SQL for presentation
    ... transformation could be done using SQL select statements. ... that you mean some language consistent with relational theory. ... HTML is a markup language. ...
    (comp.databases.theory)
  • Re: Integral and non-integral
    ... >> struct X ... should be allowed to write, in a header file, ... The question is why this is actively prohibited by the language. ... Except for the use of underscores this is also a transformation the ...
    (comp.lang.cpp)
  • Re: [OT] code is data
    ... it would be the best to cache the result of the transformation. ... classes using this metaclass, then both the class statement and the ... first relationship) someday, just for fun. ... Still a programming language. ...
    (comp.lang.python)
  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
    ... >> language in everyday use that heh, ... > distinction between pidgin and creole must be based on grammar. ... "I'd gone out to the store" is proper English to say what I did ... They can learn to say words, but not communicate. ...
    (sci.anthropology)