Assignment

SUBMITTED BY:

HARIS BIN IQBAL

INAYAT HUSSAIN
KHAWAR NASEER SHAH
MUNEEB UR REHMAN

SUBMITTED TO:
SIR SAQIB SHERAZ

CLASS
BS ENGLISH 4TH REGULAR
Introduction:

Noam Chomsky’s contribution to the linguistics is considered one of the most important
achievements of the 20th century. This era known as the Chomskyan era, this era referred to
the period beginning shortly after the publication of the book “Syntactic Structures” in which
Chomsky developed a syntactic theory.

Transformational Generative Grammar(TGG):

TGG is a concept introduced by Noam Chomsky in his book “Syntactic Structures”. This
theroy help us to understand how the sentences in a language are formed and changed or
“Transformed” into other sentences while keeping the same basic meaning. This theroy
emphasizes on two main aspects:

1) Generative Grammar

2) Transformational Rules

Generative Grammar:

We have limited set of rules that will be capable of producing a large numbers of sentences
or well-formed structures. This small and limited set of rules sometimes described as
generative grammar because it can be used to generate or produce sentences structures.
This type of grammar should also be capable of revealing the basis of two other
phenomenon: first, deep structure and second, surface structure.

Deep Structure:

Deep structure deals with the basi idea or core meaning of sentence. This represents the
most fundamental relationships between elements of the sentences, like who is doing what
to whom.

Example:

The teacher praised the student.

The student was praised by teacher.

Both sentences have the deep structure because both are expressing the same basic idea:
the teacher did the acition of praising and the student received the praise.

Surface Structure:

The surface structure is the way a sentence is actually arranged when we speak or write it. It
is final visible form of sentence. The surface structure can be different even if the deep
structure is the same.

Example:

The surface structure of the sentence “The teacher praised the student” and “The student
was praised by the teacher” is different. In the first sentence, the subject “the teacher”
comes before the verb “was praised” but in second sentence the subject “the teacher”
comes after the verb “was praised”.

Both have the different surface structure but they share the same deep structure because
meaning remains consistent.

Transformational Rules:
These rules allow us to change a sentence into other form without changing it’s basic
meaning. In these we change the surface structure but it’s deep structure or basic meaning
remain same.

Example:

Statement:

The cat is sleeping on the mat.

Question:

Is the cat sleeping on the mat?

The sentence has been transformed form statement to question, but the meaning is still
about the cat is sleeping on the mate, the surface structure of the sentence changes but the
deep structure(basic idea or core meaning) remains the same.

Why This Matters?

The distinction between surface and deep structures help us to understand how different
sentence structures convey same meaning whether we change them into question, passive
voice or rearrange them.

Transformational rules take the deep structure and change it into different surface
structures. Transformational rules explain why sentence which have different surface
structure convey the same idea.

Minimalism:

Minimalism is a concept in linguist, particularly in the work of Noam Chomsky, that focuses
on simplifying how we can understand language. The main purpose is to explain how
language works using the smallest, simplest set of rules and principles. The approach
emphasizes the idea that the complexities of language can be derived from basic, underlying
rules that givern how languages operate. It claims that the inherent capacity for language in
human is built on a few universal and essential grammatical rules.

Components of Minimalism:

Economy of Structure:

Human brain naturally tends to avoid unnecessary complexity. Just like people prefer the
shortest route to a destination, the mind also prefer to use the most simplest and least
complicated grammatical structure when constructing sentences. When creating a
sentence the barain will favour a simpler structure over a more complex one of both
sentences are conveying the same idea or meaning. Simpler structures are easier for the
brain to process and understand. This help us in quicker communication, as both the
speaker and listener can more easily create and understand the sentence.

Example:

Simple Structure:

The dog cased the cat.

More Complex Structure:

The dog, which was very energetic, chased the cat that was trying to escape.

In this case, the first sentence is simpler and more economical. It is conveying the basic idea
directly and there is not unnecessary details in it. The second sentence, is still correct but it
is a complex sentence because it has extra details. The brain would generally choice the first
structure because it is simpler.

Universal Grammar(UG):

Universal grammar proposes that all humans born with inherent capacity to learn language.
This capacity is hrd-wired into our mind and we have basic rules needed to acquire any
language. These basic rules apply to all languages, for instance all languages have structures
that distinguishes between subject and predicate. According to universal grammar the basic
structure of language built into human mind. This innate grammar allows children to learn
any language, quickly and without formal instructions. Universal grammar helps to explain
how children learn language so quickly and easily. Children born with innate capacity to
learn and understand language and only need to learn specific parameters of the language,
they hear around them.

Example:

All languages have almost same sentence structure and arrangement of subject, verb and
object.

In English, the sentence order is Subject-Verb-Object. In Japanese language sentence

structure is Subject-Object-Verb. The different order is just variation in parameter setting but
both languages follow the same underlying principles that dictate how subject and object
relate to verb.

Minimalist Program:

The minimalist program is an inflectional theory in linguistcs, developed by Noam Chomsky

in early 1990s. The Minimalist Program seeks to explain the structure of language using the
smallest possible set of rules and principles. It is like trying to find “Bore Bones” of language
and these are essential elements of any language. “Merge” is a fundamental element in the
Minimalist Program. It is a basic rule that allows two elements to be combined into a larger
structure, such as sentence.

Example:

“The cat sleeps.” Merge operation combines:

“The cat(NP)” with “sleeps” (Verb) to form a complete sentences.

Interface Conditions:

Interfere condition is a crucial concept within Noam Chomsky’s Minimalist

Program.Interface conditions refer to the rules that language must follow to interact
smoothly with other cognitive systems in the brain, such as thought, perception, and
memory. The main purpose of interface conditions is to make sure that the output of the
language system can be understood by other cognitive systems. For example, when we
speak, our sentences must be structured in a way that others can interpret them correctly,
based on shared cognitive processes. These interface condition are necessary in language
because it helps to interpret and understand the language.
Example:

“John kicked the ball.”

The structure of this sentence clearly conveys the intended meaning. A person named “John”
performing an action “kicked” on an object “the ball”. The sentence meets the interface
condition by making the action and participants clear.

Conclusion:

Transformational generative grammar(TGG) and Minimalism or Minimalist Program theroy

are important in language. They help us to understand the intended meaning and also help
us to understand the structure of sentences. They involve in simplifying language.