Transformations

TREE DIAGRAMS
When you read this chapter, the first thing you will notice is the Tree Diagrams. If you have learned other ways of diagraming sentences, you may ask yourself are tree diagrams really necessary?

The answer is YES!

(Fromkin Rodman Hyams 115-172)

BASIC TRANSFORMATIONS
John gave Mary a mink coat. Question: Did John give Mary a mink coat? Negative: John didnt give Mary a mink coat. Negative Question: Didnt John give Mary a mink coat? Information Question: Who gave Mary a mink coat? Tag Question: John gave Mary a mink coat, didnt he? (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 163)

Whos on First?

John gave Mary a mink coat.

Passive: Mary was given a mink coat by John. A mink coat was given to Mary by John. Imperative: Give Mary a mink coat! Negative Imperative: Dont give Mary a mink coat! Contrastive Stress: John gave Mary a mink coat. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 163)

SPECIAL PROBLEMS
Whiz Deletion: I met the girl (who was) doing the dishes. Extraposition: For John to be nice is very difficult It is very difficult for John to be nice.

Expletive: Thirty-seven students are in the room There are thirty-seven students in the room.

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 1
Relative Clause as Substantive: He didnt know who had the bicycle.

Relative Clause as Modifier: Bill is the boy who has the bicycle. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 2
Present-Participle as Substantive: The young girls watching the children surprised everybody. Present-Participle as Modifier: I met the girl (who was) watching the children. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 3
Infinitive as Substantive: For John to be nice is very hard.

Infinitive as Modifier: John came (in order) to be nice. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

EMBEDDING TRANSFORMATIONS 4
That-Clause as Substantive: That John didnt get angry was a miracle. That-Clause as Modifier: I was surprised that John didnt get angry. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 130)

 Possible only when information is PRONOMINALIZATION AND recoverable from linguistic context (antecedant) or social context: DELETION: John wanted Bill to buy the drinks. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 201-202)

TOPICALIZATION AND FOCUSING TRANSFORMATIONS

Sentences consist of Subjects and Predicates. The Subject is what we are talking about, and the Predicate is what we say about it. Therefore the Subject contains old information (so speakers will have something to talk about), and the Predicate contains new information (so speakers will be able to say something new). (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

 Any transformation that moves a constituent up into the Subject or Topic position is called a Topicalization Transformation. Any transformation that moves a constituent down into the Predicate position is called a Focusing Transformation. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

 The Passive Transformation is both a Topicalization Transformation and a Focusing Transformation. John saw the girl The girl was seen by John The girl has undergone a Topicalization Transformation, and John has undergone a Focusing Transformation.
Note that this has not affected the truth value. John saw the girl is true if and only if The girl was seen by John. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

 Notice that in a normal sentence the strongest stress is on the last word. This is because this is part of the Predicate or new information, and is important enough to be stressed. Therefore, changing the word that is stressed in a sentence is a focusing transformation. John saw ten girls on bicycles. John saw ten girls on bicycles. John saw ten girls on bicycles. John saw ten girls on bicycles. John saw ten girls on bycles. (Fromkin Rodman Hyams 161)

Now lets have some fun with syntax!

CHIASMUS
Chiasmus is when words are repeated in inverted order:
Mae West said, Its not the men in my life that counts; its the life in my men. A bumper sticker reads, Aging is mind over matter: If you dont mind, it doesnt matter. Another bumper sticker reads, Marijuana is not a question of Hi, how are you but of How high are you? A one-liner that is popular around tax time reads, The IRS: Weve got what it takes to take what youve got.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 179)

Source: Don L.F.Nilsen