Transformational Theories of Language | Humanities & Social Sciences

Transformational Theories of Language

Course Number: 
HSL742
LTP structure: 
3-0-0
Discipline: 
Linguistics
Credit: 
3.0

Pre-requisite

HUL 234, HUL242 and HUL 350 for UG students and/or prior permission of the course coordinator

Course Objective

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with generative theories of syntax/sentence formation. The course will inform them about the inadequacies of finite state machines and top-down automata for generating natural language strings and how transformational theories are better suited for the purpose.

Course Content

Course contents:
This course will cover the fundamental concepts that have defined generative/transformational grammars since their inception in the 1950s. It will introduce students to the main motivations for such grammars for natural language, as stated in Chomsky (1957). A substantial part of the course will therefore be devoted to understanding the inadequacies of immediate constituent analysis and the need to include optional and obligatory transformational rules in the grammar. This will be followed by a detailed study of later theoretical developments, including those found in Standard Theory, Extended Standard Theory, Revised Extended Standard Theory and Government and Binding Theory.

The information provided here may not be updated. Please check UG/PG section for updated course offering data.