Syntactic Structures (1957)
rules
 also known as Chomsky 57
 tripartite
 generative grammar, i.e. a devise that
will generate an infinitive number of gram
Ss of a language and no ungrammatical
ones
 gram – a model of an ideal native
speaker’s competence
 non-mechanical device > S
 consists of a set of ordered rules
(tripartite):
 PS component
 T rules
 Morphophonemic component
 PS rules
 operate on 1 symbol that is rewritten as
a string of 1 or more symbols
 relation of the symbols on the right
of the rewrite arrow (→) may be any of
the ff:
 simple (unidirectional)
dependency, e.g. a→b(c)
 mutual (bi-directional)
dependency, e.g. a→b+c
 mutually exclusive relation, e.g.
a→b,c or
b 
a→
c Base components:
 Subcat.
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965)
 also known as Aspects
Model/Standard Theory
 differentiation between:
 competence &
performance
 grammaticality &
acceptability
 Surface & Deep
Structures
 instead of generalized T rules,
recursive property of grammar now part of
the Base components, i.e. in PS rules
 Lexicon is added as a Base
component
 level of semantics treated as
an interpretive component
 kernel S have no independent
status
 linguistic competence
involves ff:
 to produce & comprehend a
theoretically infinite number of Ss
 to perceive the structure of Ss
 to recognize Ss that are paraphrases
of each other
to detect ambiguity
 Deep Structure defined by application of
 PS rules
1
 Lex Insertion rule
 categorical & functional or relational
info - provided by PS rules w/c generate
phrase-markers (P-markers)
Extended Standard Theory (EST)
(mid 1970s)
 Base
 Categorial Sentence-
Formation rules (=PS rules) –replace PS
categories of X and XP by X-bar Syntax
 Lexicon
 Lex entries
 Redundancy rules
o Subcategorization
o Word-Formation rules
 Restructuring rules
 Inherent Case-Marking rules
 Lex Insertion rule
 Lex Redundancy rule
OUTPUT of Base: D-Structures
 Transformational Component
 T rules:
 Movement
rules
 WH Movement
 .NP-Aux Inversion
 Substitution rule (NP
Movement)
  Adjunction
rules
 Sister-Adjunction
 Chomsky -Adjunction
 Movement rules > Alpha
Movement
 Transformations subject to ff
principles/constraints:
 Structure-Preserving Principle
 context sensitive dependency, e.g.
rule 3
1. a→b+c
2. b→d,e
3. c→ f/d__
g immediately dom by S]
 *a→Ø, i.e. null string or
zero write-out is not permitted
 T-rules
 operate on strings of more than 1
symbol
 3 possible T operations:
 permutation, e.g.
d+e+c => d+c+e
 deletion, e.g. a+b => b
 adjunction, e.g.
a+b+c=>a+b+c+d
 alternative
 Lex
 Deep &
 functional/grammatic
al info or relations – defined as derivative
relations between categories, i.e. notions
are defined in ff way:
 Subj. of [NP
immediately dom by S]
 Pred. of [VP
 Dir Obj of [NP
immediately dom by VP]
 main Verb of
[V immediately dom by VP]
 Subcat. Rules include:
 context-free variety
 context-sensitive variety:
 strict Subcat rules
 Selection rules
 lex items –
substituted into Base P-markers if
syntactic features nondistinct from those
generated by Base rules
2
analysis removes Subcat from Base rules;
each lex category single branches to a
fixed dummy symbol (∆)
Insertion rule must be in context-sensitive
analysis
Surface Structures both produced by:
 PS rules – generate Ss found in the
Deep Structure
 T rules – change Ss into Surface
Structures
 Empty Node
Principle
 Trace (t) Principle
 Cyclic Principle
 Complex NP Constraint – no element
can be abstracted out of an adnominal
phrase, i.e. bracketed clause modifying
a nominal const
 Sentential Subj
Constraint – no element can be moved
out of clause that is a subject of another
clause
 WH-Island
Constraint – no element can be moved
out of a clause containing an overt wh-
complementiser or wh-phrase in COMP
 Coordinate
Structure Constraint
 A over A Constraint
– no const of category A can be moved
out of a larger containing const of
category A
 Unit Movement Constraint – only a
string of elements w/c form a const
can be moved together in any
application of any movement rule
 Subjacency Condition – no const can
be moved across more than 1
bounding node (S, NP, S-bar) in any
single rule application
 Complementiser Constraint – no const
can be adjoined to a COMP w/c
already contains a wh-const

 Surface Structure - final  Tensed S Condition – no const of a

stage in syntactic representation of S;
provides input to Phonological
Component
 Deep Structure – abstract
syntactic representation of S; provides
input to Semantic Representation
 transformation – gram
process that operates on a string of words
& symbols w/ a part const structure &
converts it into a new string w/ a new
derived constituent structure
tensed clause (=S-bar) not in COMP can
be moved out of that tensed clause, or
construed with any element outside that
tensed clause
 Specified Subj Condition – no
nonsubject const of a clause or NP w/ a
specified subj can be moved(or
construed w/ any const) outside that
clause/NP,unless in COMP
OUTPUT of Transformational Component:
S-Structures

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 Case Component
 Case Marking rules
 NP marked nom if
gov by Tense
 NP marked obj if gov
by trans V or P
 NP marked gen if gov
by Poss
 Moved wh-phrase
inherits case from its t
 X gov Y iff X is
minimal gov node c-commanding Y
& there is no S-bar/ NPintervening
bet X & Y (= there is no S-bar/NP
containing (=dominating) Y but not
X; gov nodes are lex categories (V, P,
N, A), Tense & Poss; X c-com-mands
Y iff 1st branching node dom X
dominates Y, & neither X nor Y
dominates the other
 Case Filters
 Case Filter - *NP if overt & no case
 Case Conflict Filter – no NP can
carry more than 1 case-marking
 PRO Filter – PRO cannot be
governed
 NP Trace Filter – t of NP
Movement cannot be case-marked
OUTPUT of Case Component: Case-
marked S-Structures
 Deletion Component
 Deletion rules

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  Recoverability
Condition
OUTPUT of Deletion Component: Surface
Structures
 Surface Structure
Filters
 Internal S-bar Filter – any Surface
Structure containing an S-bar embedded
w/in another clause, & flanked to left &
right by overt lex material from that
clause, is ill-formed
 Empty Subj Filter – no tensed
nonrelative clause w/ a nonempty
COMP can have an empty NP
immediately ff COMP
 For-To Filter – an clause containing
the complementiser for ffd by to w/out
overt const separating them is ungram
 Multiply Filled Comp Filter – no
COMP can contain more than 1 overt
const
 Root Clause Filter – any root clause
containing an overt COMP immediately
ffd by NP is ill-formed  For-For Filter – any clause
containing sequence for-for is ungram
 Stranded Prep Filter – no P can be
stranded w/in COMP
OUTPUT: filtered Surface Structures
 Semantic Component
 Semantic rules
 Indexing rule

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  Matching
Condition – if 2 NPs assigned same
index, they must match in features
(num, gender, person, etc)
 Binding Conditions
 Anaphor Binding Condition – an
anaphor (or np-trace) must be bound
in its gov category (GC), if it has 1
 Pronominal Binding Condition – a
pronominal NP must be free in its
GC, it it has 1
 Lex Binding Condition – a lex NP
(or wh-trace) must be free everywhere
 Relevant definitions:
 X is bound if X is an arg
coindexed w/ a c-com-manding; if not
bound it is free
 An arg is NP-position w/in S/NP
(subj, dir obj, ind obj, etc)
 X c-commands Y if 1st branching
node dom X dominates Y, & X does
not dominate Y, nor Y, X
 X is gov category for Y if X is
minimal NP/S w/c contains the const
w/c gov Y
 X gov Y if X is minimal potential
gov (= V, A, N, P or Tense) c-
command-ing Y, & there is no
intervening S-bar /NP barrier bet X &
Y

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