On Uhlenbeck on Chomsky

The transformational generative grammar theory is one of the linguistic theories that caused fundamental changes in linguistics since 1950s. This theory is based on the themes: deep structure and surface structure. Chomsky, who introduced the transformational generative grammar, explained the language with processes in mind in 1950s by including mind processes into linguistics. He clarifies the concept of deep structure in mind processes. He aims to emphasize the thought aspect in language by deep structure. This research intends to reveal that the theory of Chomsky depending on the mind processes and explained as the thought aspect in language: deep structure indeed dates back before the 1950s. Within this context, Nahiv as one of the works of Fitrat is analysed. As a linguist Fitrat displays the deep structure by establishing a relationship between the mind and language and drives the semantics forward. This research indicates the similarities between the deep structures of Fitrat (in Nahiv) and Chomsky. This research is done by means of document analysis method as one of the qualitative research methods. Content analysis method that is one of the data analysis methods is used. Similarities between the deep structures of Fitrat’s and Chomsky’s are identified. As a result of the study, it is proved that the deep structure which constitutes the fundamentals of transformational generative grammar theory is introduced before the 1950s and this work of Fitrat has already been designed in the transformational generative grammar system.

Eleven sets of 16 sentences, previously rated as natural English statements, were presented to two groups of listeners. Each set of sentences differed in syntactic structure and contained four sentences of each of four lengths : 8, 10, 12, and 14 words. The listeners heard the sentences either under a fixed condition of filtering or without filtering; their task was to write as much of each sentence as possible immediately after it was presented. The sentences were scored for the number of words correctly reproduced, and differences in aural perception among the various sentence types and lengths were tested on the basis of the derived intelligibility scores. The results of the study indicated that (1) perception of the sentences was affected by their syntactic structure and varied, depending upon the grammatical complexity of the statements as specified by a generative-transformational grammar ; (2) the sentences of 12 words were more easily perceived than were the sentences of the other lengths ; (3) no relationship was established between the relative perception of the various sentence structures and their degree of naturalness.

This research examines the influence of Arabic grammar on the formation of modern linguistic studies by tracing the theoretical and methodological foundations of Arabic grammar and comparing them with the conclusions reached by contemporary linguistics in its approaches and theories. The research is based on the hypothesis that Arabic grammar was not merely a rigid system of rules, but rather a comprehensive linguistic project based on description, analysis, and induction, which makes it ahead of its time in many of its concepts compared to modern linguistic studies. The research reviews the origins and development of Arabic grammar, highlighting its basic concepts such as the factor, inflection, and syntactic structure, and their role in understanding the linguistic system. It then discusses the influences and similarities between Arabic grammar and some modern linguistic trends, such as structuralism, generative grammar, and transformational grammar, especially in issues of deep and surface structure, competence and performance, and the relationship between structure and meaning. The research also addresses the positions of modern linguists on Arabic grammar, between criticism and calls for a contemporary scientific reinterpretation, and emphasizes the importance of drawing on the grammatical heritage in the development of modern linguistic studies, particularly in the fields of discourse analysis, language teaching, and applied linguistics. The research concludes that Arabic grammar remains a knowledge base that can contribute effectively to the construction of a contemporary Arabic linguistic theory based on the integration of authenticity and heritage on the one hand, and modern linguistic research methods on the other.

The paper investigated whether Korean middle school were able to resolve ambiguous sentences in spoken English by relying on prosodic cues. Fifty eight junior high school in Seoul and 6 peer native English listeners (Korean-Americans) in the US participated in a comprehension test, which consisted of 20 questions of main-subordinate and parenthetical syntactic structures. The results indicated that, unlike the native English listeners, a vast majority of the Korean had much difficulty resolving ambiguous sentences although the sentences were disambiguated by prosodic cues such as phrase final lengthening, phrasing, and pauses. The Korean students listening comprehension was not correlated with their general English ability. However, an analysis of major textbooks being used in middle schools in Korea suggests that the Korean students poor performance in the comprehension test may be ascribable partly to their lack of exposure to the relationship between syntactic structure and prosodic structure. Based on the findings of the study, implications for the teaching of intonational cues for the resolution of ambiguous sentences in English were drawn.

Syntactic and semantic structure in the recall of orders of approximation to English

This study examines the syntactic structures and restructuring phenomena of the “siru” sentences in Japanese and the corresponding “alda” sentences in Korean that appear in complex sentences. More specifically, the study shows that although the “siru” sentences in Japanese and the corresponding “alda” sentences in Korean are formed as complex sentences in the deep structure due to the semantic role of the predicates, such syntactic structures can be divided into control structures or raising structures depending on the syntactic roles they perform. In a nutshell, the “siru” sentences in Japanese that take the complementizer of “koto” and the “alda” sentences in Korean that take the complementizer of “il” are of an raising structure, whereas the “siru” sentences that take the complementizer of “no” and “alda” sentences that take the complementizer of “geot” are of a control structure. To present such syntactic structures, this study focuses on the semantic phenomenon related to how idiomatic expressions are interpreted in such syntactic structures. In addition, this study shows that restructuring is observed in these syntactic structures, by demonstrating, through the incidences of cleft sentences, the fact that both the “siru” sentence in Japanese and the “alda” sentence in Korean show in their surface structure such syntactic phenomena as are found in simple-sentence structures.

Comprehension of graphics can be considered as a process of schema-mediated structure mapping from external graphics on internal mental models. Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that graphics possess a perceptible surface structure as well as a semantic deep structure both of which affect mental model construction. The same content was presented to different groups of learners by graphics from different perspectives with different surface structures but the same deep structure. Deep structures were complementary: major features of the learning content in one experiment became minor features in the other experiment, and vice versa. Text was held constant. Participants were asked to read, understand, and memorize the learning material. Furthermore, they were either instructed to process the material from the perspective supported by the graphic or from an alternative perspective, or they received no further instruction. After learning, they were asked to recall the learning content from different perspectives by completing graphs of different formats as accurately as possible. Learners' recall was more accurate if the format of recall was the same as the learning format which indicates surface structure influences. However, participants also showed more accurate recall when they remembered the content from a perspective emphasizing the deep structure, regardless of the graphics format presented before. This included better recall of what they had not seen than of what they really had seen before. That is, deep structure effects overrode surface effects. Depending on context conditions, stimulation of additional cognitive processing by instruction had partially positive and partially negative effects.

The revolutionary nature of Chomskyan linguistics must be considered within the framework of another ‘revolution’, in psychology, from behaviorism to cognitivism. George Miller dates this paradigm shift to a conference held at MIT in 1956, in which Chomsky participated. This change of focus is, in turn, related to the development of the digital computer and the promise of understanding and modeling thought using the techniques of computer science. Chomsky evolves from behaviorism to mentalism between Syntactic Structures (1957) and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965). This led psycholinguists to consider the relationship between deep structure and surface structure in processing. However the results were not very promising, and Chomsky himself seemed to abandon psychological reality as a relevant consideration in linguistic analysis. His focus on intuition favored rationalism over empiricism, and innate structures over acquired behavior. This biological turn – the search for the language ‘organ’, the ‘language acquisition device’, etc. – became the new foundation for a science of linguistics. This, however, leads to problems with evolutionary biology, and Chomsky’s appeal to biology has explained little and created serious conundrums. The biological approach is linked to the claims of the ‘poverty of the stimulus’, i.e. the claim that children learn the structures of language with remarkably little input, and therefore must have innate structures that explain this human capability. This has been attacked from two fronts: first, suggestions that the stimulus is not as poor as claimed, and second, hypotheses that language learning does not require a richly structured and highly restricted learning mechanism. These approaches divorce cognitivism from Chomskyan linguistics, and pursue instead such language acquisition theories as statistical language learning, latent semantic analysis, and agent-based modeling. Chomsky’s resolute antiempiricism ends up isolating his linguistic theory from the forefront of current trends in biology and psychology.

In studying music, ethnomusicologists must deal, at least peripherally, with song texts. This linguistic form is known to show differences from normal speech, as does poetry. The purpose of Professor Durbin's article is to indicate the models of these three phenomena-normal speech, poetry, and song text-in terms of a single method of model-making. For this purpose, she has used the transformational model. Since her consideration of these differences is of importance to ethnomusicology, yet is stated in terms unfamiliar to many of our readers, a short explanation of transformational theory is given. The basic goal of the transformational model is to account for the knowledge of a language possessed by an ideal native speaker, and to generate the infinite number of grammatically acceptable sentences possible in any language. It is concerned not with performance, but with competence-the underlying system which produces particular sentences and larger structures. Transformational theory accounts for two components: 1) deep structure; and 2) surface structure. The deep structure is the mechanics underlying the entire language. It may be compared with the elements which constitute a musical style. It also represents similarities to certain aspects of what musicologists call form. The deep structure is not necessarily verbalized by speakers of a language. (The same is true of style in music.) Rather, it is the totality of aspects, the underlying grid which serves as a first filter in processing and organizing raw sound into the final production of language. This final production is the surface structure. It is the physical sound generated by the deep structure. If the deep structure is correctly stated, the surface structure will consist of the infinite set of proper, grammatical sentences possible in the language in question. In writing a transformational grammar, two separate kinds of statements are made. The statement of the deep structure, called the base, is the progressive unfolding of general to more specific descriptions of underlying structure. Thus, in a grammar which is concerned with sentence structure, the first statement might be S(sentence) -> (is to be rewritten) NP + VP (noun phrase plus verb phrase). Following statements would indicate the composition of NP and VP, after which the composition of each element would be

Generative Grammar

This investigation emphasizes the syntactic-semantic linearity in Scent of Apples by Bienvenido N. Santos. It points out the analysis of the surface and deep structure of the five select sentences excerpted from the short story entitled Scent of Apples. It takes up structural analysis which comprises the immediate constituents and the semantic components of the sentences, and description of constituents which contains transformations of sentences according to case. It considers that the five select sentences reveal surface and deep structures in syntactic-semantic manner. This supposition is supported by the theories of linear grammar that highlights the structure of the sentence and semantic-based grammar which emphasizes meaning or semantic structure of sentences. As such, in this paper the five select sentences excerpted from the Scent of Apple by Bienvenido N. Santos are utilized as pattern or model for the linguistic analysis. In instituting the structural analytical data, four phases/stages were observed; Phase 1 for Immediate Constituent Analysis, Phase 2 for Functions/Speech Acts, Phase 3 for Notion/Ideas Expressed, and Phase 4 for Sentence Transforms. It reflects that the five sentences extracted from the short story are all simple sentences. Also, shows that the five sentences function as looking/observing, owning, acquiring, remembering, and inducing something. Likewise, the five sentences declare the following notions; in a condition of being ill, possessing ones habitual action, longing something, possessing something, and influencing something, and that the five sentences construct five sentence transforms with five nominative case, five sentence transforms with possessive case, and five sentence transforms with objective case. Consequently, it has been determined that the five select sentences excerpted from the Scent of Apples by Bienvenido N. Santos display the surface and deep structures in syntactic-semantic linearity approach. In this manner, it is commended that English language teachers must create/construct learning tool activities which are fitting to the syntactic and semantic structure of the sentences, for the learners to master the structure and be particular of the functions and the usage of words. Furthermore, language teachers should also apply the various strategies and approaches that would entice students’ interest in learning the correct usage of words and the correct structure of sentences.

Partial androgen deficiency or the andropause in the aging male is a complex clinical and biochemical entity that needs to be analyzed at two levels of the constituent structure: the 'deep structure' should come to light with more intensive research, while the 'surface structure' holds the attention of investigators who focus on hormone measurements in the blood to help diagnose the andropause. In this study, it is recognized that bioavailable testosterone decreases progressively during the aging process. This physiological decline may be so important, or so close to castration levels, that aged men may experience numerous symptoms of hypogonadism. The assay for bioavailable testosterone was indirectly validated with a set of equations derived from our knowledge of the law of mass action at equilibrium, as proposed by Vermeulen and colleagues in 1999. With this mathematical model, we have shown that calculated free testosterone was highly correlated with bioavailable testosterone. It is therefore concluded that the evaluation of aged men's androgenicity should rely on at least one of these free testosterone assessments (bioavailable or calculated free testosterone) for the sake of reproducibility in the construction of the 'surface structure' of the andropause in the coming years.

Gesture modeling for architectural design

This research discusses the syntactic analysis of spoken sentences in the Deddy Corbuzier Channel podcast on TikTok. The purpose of this study is to describe how sentence structures in spoken language differ from written language and to identify how they reflect Chomsky’s theory of Transformational-Generative Grammar (TGG). This study uses qualitative methods. The research data were taken from selected podcast transcripts from TikTok. To answer the research questions, the researcher applied Chomsky’s theory (1957, 1965) focusing on the relationship between deep structure and surface structure in sentence formation. The results reveal that although the deep structures of the utterances are grammatically correct, the surface structures often show spoken features such as topic fronting, lexical substitution, repetition, fillers, and clause fragmentation. These forms occur naturally in spontaneous conversation and are not considered grammatical errors. Furthermore, the analysis shows that spoken sentences tend to prioritize clarity, emphasis, and emotional expression rather than formal grammatical

Chinese Narrotologies