Structures in which nouns modify nouns have raised questions about the form and functioning of generative grammars. By applying and extending Jackendoff's X-bar theory of phrase structure, the syntactic properties of two types of pre-noun modifiers, adjectives and nouns, can be examined. X-bar analysis correctly predicts many features of noun-noun…

Evidence of semantically based orderings of phrasal coordinations in child speech is explored. Speech samples from two children are analyzed to show that such sequences occur frequently, are internally consistent, and are part of children's active repertoire of referential and expressive acts at an early age. The samples were obtained from one…

Across languages, clauses expressing possession, location, and existence exhibit many similarities. To capture their evident affinity, it is often claimed that possessives derive--synclironically or diaclironically--from expressions of location/existence. This localist account obscures a basic contrast between two broad classes of possessive…

The assumption that the active/passive relation is structural in nature and therefore best expressed by a transformation is debated. The relation can be captured in the lexicon without a passive transformation. An interpretive rule is proposed to handle the problem. Passives are shown as generated by phrase structure rules. (SC)

LISTS OF HIGH ASSOCIATION AND LOW ASSOCIATION SENTENCES WERE PREPARED FROM CONTROLLED ASSOCIATION NORMS. AN INTRA-LIST INTERFERENCE CONDITION WAS CREATED FOR HIGH ASSOCIATION SENTENCES BY PAIRING THE NOUN PHRASE OF ONE SENTENCE WITH THE VERB PHRASE OF ANOTHER SENTENCE IN THE SAME LIST. A SIMILAR PROCEDURE WAS FOLLOWED WITH THE LOW ASSOCIATION…

THE NOUN PHRASE IN HEBREW IS DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF ITS "TRANSFORMATIONAL" HISTORY. THE NOUN PHRASES OF HEBREW ARE CLASSIFIED ON THE BASIS OF TYPES OF ADJACENT, OR MODIFYING STRUCTURES WITHIN THE NOUN PHRASE. GRAMMATICAL RULES ARE FORMULATED TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS OF SENTENCE AMBIGUITY, THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CERTAIN SENTENCE STRUCTURES, AND…

This research examines how semantic information influences syntactic parsing decisions during sentence processing. In the first experiment, subjects were presented lexical strings having syntactically identical surface structures but with two possible underlying structures: "The children taught by the Berlitz method," and "The…

The purpose of this paper is to define the framework within which empirical investigations of probabilistic grammars can take place and to sketch how this attack can be made. The full presentation of empirical results will be left to other papers. In the detailed empirical work, the author has depended on the collaboration of E. Gammon and A.…

For the two years prior to this report the Computational Linguistics Project in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University was engaged in research leading to computer programs for accepting and manipulating transformational grammars corresponding to a version of the theory based on Chomsky's "Aspects of the Theory of Syntax." These…

The papers in this volume describe computer runs with six different transformational grammars, in each case using the computer system for transformational grammar described in AL 002 220. They are collected as examples which, it is hoped, will encourage other linguistics to use the system. The motivation for the first three projects described was…

The 22 entries of this bibliography constitute a survey of linguistic literature published between 1914 and 1973 on forestress and afterstress in noun compounds and phrases in English. The bibliography is actually divided into three sections. In Part 1, the introductory remarks, a summary of the various approaches to the problem of compounds and…

The stylistics of belief is the study of the ways in which language is used by speakers to express their beliefs, to convince other people they are right, or to avoid committing themselves to particular beliefs. Such study can contribute to an understanding of the ways in which people misuse and manipulate language for their own ends. The…

This booklet is intended to enable the beginner in the field of transformational grammar to read and gain information about much of the contemporary scholarly literature on grammar (of foreign languages as well as of English). Sections in the book discuss phrase structure grammar; transformational rules--movement rules, insertion rules,…