TWO MODELS OF DESCRIPTION, GENERATIVE AND NONGENERATIVE, ARE APPLIED TO THE PHONOLOGY OF ITALIAN TO DETERMINE WHICH OF THE TWO OFFERS A SIMPLER YET MORE COMPREHENSIVE STATEMENT. THE NONGENERATIVE MODEL IS GIVEN IN A LISTING OF PHONEMES AND A BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE PHONOTACTICS AND ALLOPHONICS. THE GENERATIVE MODEL STATES THE FACTS IN 11 REWRITE…

THIS PAPER PROPOSES SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE PROBLEMS FACED BY SOMEONE ABOUT TO EMBARK ON A GENERATIVE GRAMMAR OF AZERBAIJANI. IT IS NOT A SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS, BUT A SAMPLING OF IDEAS PERTINENT TO SUCH AN ANALYSIS. THE PROBLEMS DEALT WITH ARE (1) GRAMMATICAL DEPTH IN AZERBAIJANI BASED ON VICTOR YNGVE'S DEFINITION OF "DEPTH"--A NUMBER OF SENTENCES OF…

The article looks at idiomaticity from the semantic and syntactic angles. After a summary of the problems arising from a semantic definition, some recent proposals regarding the syntactic behavior of idioms are reviewed briefly and evaluated. There is a sizable bibliography. (AMH)

Reports an experiment intended to assess the psychological reality of the underlying clauses in "resultative constructions" in English. (RM)

The verb "take" as presented by Langendoen and McCawley is examined in order to prove to the reader that transformational generative grammar suffers from a disregard of empirical fact. (Author/LG)

It is argued here that English contains a distinct class of relative clauses called amount relatives. On the surface, these are much like restrictive relative clauses, but they have a syntax and semantics that align them more with comparatives than with restrictive relatives. (Author/KM)

This paper examines the status of surface structure in transformational grammar, and the way that surface structure mediates the contacts between the phonological and semantic components of the grammar. Surface structure refers not to a single but to at least four distinct notions that do not necessarily define a homogeneous level of…

THE USEFULNESS OF MODERN GRAMMAR, PARTICULARLY OF KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE PATTERNS, IN FACILITATING READING EFFICIENCY IS CONSIDERED IN A DISCUSSION OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF STRUCTURE IN LANGUAGE FOR THE TEACHING OF READING. THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE DISCUSSED--(1) THE DUAL CONCEPT OF MEANING, (2) THE FOUR STAGES OF LANGUAGE STRUCTURE (SOUNDS,…

This paper examines the semantic and structural characteristics of a basic pattern in English and discusses Spanish equivalents. A sentence-by-sentence analysis is made with consideration of transformations on the basic patterns in both languages. Translation and transformation complications in the two languages are illustrated. The equivalence…

This paper proposes a set of hypotheses on the nature of interrogration as a possible language universal. Examples and phrase structure rules and diagrams are given. Examining Tamazight and English, genetically unrelated languages with almost no contact, the author distinguishes two types of interrogation: (1) general, querying acceptability to…

Some aspects of a theory of grammar are presented which derive from a formal theory of language acquisition. One aspect of the theory is a universal constraint on analyzability known as the Freezing Principle, which supplants a variety of constraints proposed in the literature. A second aspect of the theory is the Invariance Principle, a…

This volume presents a study of the clause as a verb-centered construction surrounded by certain nuclear constituents which serve to subcategorize it. Five India-Nepal languages are examined: Kotia Oriya, Kupia, and Maithili (Indo-Aryan family); and Dhanghar-Kurux and Kolani (Dravidian family). Dhangar-Kurux and Maithili are spoken in Nepal, the…

Articles represent four schools of thought in the field of linguistics: structural, behavioral, transformational, and tagmemic. Summarizing structural linguistics before 1956, John Lotz emphasizes the importance of spoken language and the "internal order" imposed upon "physical and behavioral phenomena," and indicates some of the basic beliefs of…