An Introduction to Transformational Syntax

Transformational syntax is an analytic technique of grammatical description which has exciting psychological and philosophical ramifications inspiring creative research into the conceptual powers and behaviour of man. In this book, first published in 1971, the author suggests that the techniques of the classical period (1964-66) of transformational syntax provide the securest foundation for syntactic analysis, and are indispensable if students are to understand recent changes to the analytical technique. This title will be of interest to students of language and linguistics.

Roger Fowler

Preface; 1. What is a Grammar? 2. Deep and Surface Structure 3. Consistent Structure: Syntactic Functions 4. Constituent Structure: Categories and Derivations 5. Lexical Interpretation 6. Deixis: Det and Aux 7. Derivation of a Simple Sentence 8. Negatives, Passives, Questions and Similar Structures 9. Pro-forms 10. Complex Sentences 11. Some Nominalizations 12. Relative Clauses and Adjectives Revisited 13. Conjoining Transformations 14. Postscript: Linguistic Universals and the Nature of Grammatical Descriptions; Selected Reading; Index