IN ATTEMPTING TO DEFINE "SYNTACTIC VARIABLE," THE AUTHOR BASES HIS DISCUSSION ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT SYNTACTIC FACTS ARE A COLLECTION OF TWO TYPES OF RULES--CONTEXT-FREE PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES (GENERATING UNDERLYING OR DEEP PHRASE MARKERS) AND GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATIONS, WHICH MAP UNDERLYING PHRASE MARKERS ONTO SUPERFICIAL (OR SURFACE)…

The author proposes an abstract form for the base categorial component of a transformational grammar--a form which represents categories and relations (functions) in a way that holds reasonable promise for resolving certain very broad problems of the interplay between linguistic form and function. The problems are so broad that almost everything…

The author's stated purpose is to answer the questions: (1) Do auxiliary verbs exist in Spanish? If so, what are the characteristics which distinguish them as a class, and what specific verbs are included in that class? (2) Is there, in particular, a class of modal auxiliaries? If so, what are their defining characteristics, and what is the…

A formal grammatical system is described in which the lexicon plays a central role. A distinguishing feature of this system is its departure from the priniciple of monocategorial lexical attachment, that is, it permits many-one translations by the lexical attachment component from syntactic categories to morphemes. In this system the underlying…

Discusses certain unknown constraints" active in the use of specific quantifiers in English. (VM)

In this paper the author shows that dependency grammars are not only equivalent to structure-free phrase-structure grammars (i.e., equally adequate), but are even more informative: they express both the "is a" relation which phrase-structure grammars express and the "governs" relation which phrase-structure grammars obscure. It…

Projected here is an underlying structure for successive restrictive relative clauses. Observed are the principles of pronominalization determined by "command," such structure being notably different from that for successive nonrestrictive clauses. Evidence has been seen that certain variations in surface structure arise from selection…

Transformational analysis of verb phrases in English is discussed. More than 150 transformations are classified arising from 10 basic kernel strings. See FL 508 197 for availability. (RM)

WITHIN THE GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING, THE AUTHOR DISCUSSES THE LINGUISTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE STUDY OF GRAMMAR AND UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR, AND HOW THIS RELATIONSHIP CORRELATES WITH THE MECHANISMS OF HUMAN PERCEPTION AND LEARNING. HE EMPHASIZES THAT LANGUAGE IS NEITHER ENTIRELY INNOVATIVE NOR A "HABIT STRUCTURE," BUT RATHER IS…

IN AGREEMENT WITH CHOMSKY, THE AUTHOR DISCUSSES SELECTIONAL RESTRICTIONS ON SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS BASED ON CRITERIA OF WHAT MUST OR CANNOT OCCUR IN THOSE SLOTS IN A SENTENCE. THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF INTERDEPENDENCY RELATIONSHIPS, VARIOUS DEEP- AND SURFACE-STRUCTURE FEATURES ARE DISTINGUISHED CONCERNING TRANSITIVE VERBS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF…

This paper examines, within the framework of case grammar, the alternant relationship that holds between the simplex in (1) "The thought frightened me" and (2) "The thought made me frightened," and between the simplex in (3) "John trembled with fear" and (4) "Fear made John tremble." It is shown that while…

THIS ANALYSIS OF UNDERLYING SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE IS BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE PARTS OF SPEECH CALLED "VERBS" AND "ADJECTIVES" ARE TWO SUBCATEGORIES OF ONE MAJOR LEXICAL CATEGORY, "PREDICATE." FROM THIS ASSUMPTION, THE HYPOTHESIS IS ADVANCED THAT, IN LANGUAGES EXHIBITING THE COPULA, THE DEEP STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES CONTAINING PREDICATE…

Proposes that NPs determined by the generic indefinite article represent abstract concepts and as such are not inherently different from indefinite NPs appearing in copulative predicates. (Author/RM)