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Generative grammar The mathematical perspective helps to explain the meaning of the term generative, which is used to describe this type of grammar In basic algebra, if we have an expression such as 3x+2y, and we give x and y the value of any whole number, then that simple algebraic
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expression can generate an endless set of values by following the simple rules of arithmetic When x=5 and y=10, the result is35 When x=2and y=1, the result is 8 These results will follow directly and predictably from applying the explicit rules
** The endless set of such results is generated by the operation of the rules If the sentences of a language can be seen as a comparable set, then there must be a set of explicit rules that can produce all those sentences Such a set of explicit rules is a generative grammar
Syntactic structures A generative grammar defines the syntactic structures of a language The grammar will generate all the well-formed syntactic structures (eg sentences) of the language and will not generate any ill-formed structures This has been called the all and only criterion, that is, all the grammatical sentences and only the grammatical sentences will be produced
Deep and surface structure This other underlying level where the basic components (noun phrase +verb+ noun phrase) shared by the two sentences can be represented, is called their deep structure The deep structure is an abstract level of structural organization in which all the elements determining structural interpretation are represented That same deep structure can be the source of many other surface structures such as It was Charlie who broke the window and was the window broken by Charlie? In short, the grammar must be capable of showing how a single underlying abstract representation can become different surface structures For example
[Charlie broke the window- The window was broken by Charlie]
Structural ambiguity we had distinct deep structures One expresses the idea that Annie had an umbrella and she whacked a men with it The other expresses the idea that Annie whacked a man and the man happened to be carrying an umbrella Now, these two different versions of events can actually be expressed in the same surface structure formAnnie whacked a man with an umbrella This sentence provides an example of structural ambiguity It has two distinct underlying interpretations that have to be represented differently in deep structure
Recursion Recursive (repeatable any number of times) rules have the capacity to be applied more than once in generating a structure For example, we can have one prepositional phrase describing location (on the table) in the sentence the gun was on the table We can also repeat this type of phrase, using different words (near the window), for as long as the sentence still makes sense (in the bedroom) So, in order to generate a sentence such as the gun was on the table near the window in the bedroom
1We must be able to repeat the rule that creates a prepositional phrase over and over again
2We must also be able to put sentences inside other sentences Eg John believed that Cathy knew that Mary helped George
Back to recursion we can put this sentence inside another sentence For example [Mary helped George-Cathy knew that Mary helped George-John believed that Cathy knew that Mary helped George]
Symbols used in syntactic
ssentence
NPnoun phrase
Nnoun
Art article
VPverb phrase
Pro pronoun
PNproper noun
Advadverb
Preppreposition