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This article considers the forces behind the use of extra prepositions (by way of doubling or inserting a mismatched preposition) in relative and interrogative clause environments in Middle English. The author argues that in that period the explanation lies with both categorical and noncategorical (gradient) factors, with only the latter continuing beyond Middle English and into present-day English. Two noncategorical factors have affected English extra prepositions since the Middle English period: accessibility of wh-phrases and semantic connectedness between a verb and preposition. Semantic connectedness favors preposition stranding, while considerations of accessibility favor preposition pied-piping. The former is reflected in a bias toward adjacency of lexicalized units, the latter in a bias toward relative clauses, where the accessibility of a wh-phrase is by default low. Together, these findings provide support for lexicalist grammars that accommodate noncategorical constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many English transitive verbs, such as deliver, eat, know, read, and understand, can function without an object. The classification of these verbs has long been a challenge. An examination of both grammar reference books and textbooks finds both inconsistency and inaccuracy in the current treatment of these verbs, showing a need for a more accurate and consistent description of these verbs. Using an approach that combines syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic analysis, the author proposes a classification framework that provides a more accurate and systematic description of these verbs. It classifies English verbs used without an object into four categories: 1) pure intransitive verbs, such as arrive, rise, and sleep; 2) ergative intransitive verbs, such as break, increase, and open; 3) transitive-converted intransitive verbs of activity, such as eat, hunt, and read; 4) object-deleting verbs, warranted by discourse or situational context, such as know, notice, and promise. The object-deleting verbs are in turn divided into five sub-types according to their semantic features. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of this framework for writers of grammar reference books and textbooks and for English language learners in dealing with these verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a developmental study of transformational complexity and sentence difficulty. Two studies investigated the validity of an index of transformational complexity in predicting the difficulty of sentence recall and completion by young children. During the past decade numerous studies have investigated the development of young children's abilities to imitate and produce various types of sentences. The central theoretical interest of the research has been to evaluate the relevance of formal linguistic concepts to the explanation of how linguistic knowledge develops. Hence predictions concerning the difficulty of sentence recall by children have been frequently based on current models of transformational generative grammar.

Composition theory generally has ignored grammar over the past 15 years, focusing instead on what has been described as “classifications of texts and relations among writers, readers, and subject matter.” Nevertheless, composition has been and continues to be strongly influenced by the model of language that is implicit in modern grammar. This model proposes that language is rule governed and, as a result, is deterministic. Transformational-generative grammar is the most well-known articulation of the model among composition specialists. This article describes the general features of the model and discusses some of the ways it has influenced composition. After assessing the various weaknesses of the rule-governed model, the article outlines a new model of language that is being developed in cognitive science by David Rumelhart, James McClelland, and others working in parallel distributed processing. This alternative model is associational and probabilistic and is grounded in connectionist theory and research. An association model of language provides composition specialists new perspectives on writers, research, and theory. The article concludes by suggesting possible ways to reconsider the act of composing and related theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The permutational test of grammaticality employs the notion of a kernel sentence, defined as subject-verb-object-qualifier (SVOQ). The permutational test of grammaticality relies strongly on the presuppositions underlying generative grammar. The protocols were examined to look for judges who had failed to mark any of the SVOQ sentences. The statistical analysis of the results was based on the scores of the remaining 20 judges. With respect to permutations with a high index of disruption, the experiment was not successful in that factors forcing grammatical judgments out of line with predictions made from the index of disruption were not discovered.

Investigates the effect of surface structure complexity, transformational sentence type and sentence length on a sentence imitation task with pre-school children. Similarity of sentence imitation and sentence comprehension; Interaction between Yngve depth and transformational sentence type; Significance of transformation grammar.

Describes the syntactical system as used by two groups of children. Use of sentence transformations; Utilization of auxiliary verb; Maturity in linguistic competence.

Focuses on the effect of question format at time of recall test. Formulation of grammatical rules for questions; Transformation component of the grammar; Basis for expecting a comparable effect for positive questions.