Showing papers on "Universal grammar published in 1976"

Relational Grammar and Korean Syntax

Abstract: In constructing a viable theory of universal grammar, it is becoming increasingly clear that grammatical relations such as subject and direct object must be considered as theoretical primitives and that they play a central role in the formulation of syntactic rules and ·constraints_ This position, recently advocated by the proponents of a syntactic theory known as relational grammar, is motivated in part by the facts such as: l) Chomsky's derivative definitions of 'subject-of' and 'object-of' may not be applicable universally,l 2) the universal properties of certain syntactic processes cannot be adequately captured unless alternations in grammatical relations that accompany transformations are properly expres'sed,2 and 3) a series of universal constraints on syntactic rules can be stated in terms of possible alternations of grammatical relations.3 Even in a description of syntactic rules of individ ual languages, the notion of grammatical relations plays an important role in allowing us to capture significant generalizations in a concise format. In Korean syntax the notion of subject, for example, plays an jmportant role in a number of syntactic processes. In Reflexivization it is the subject NP .that functions as a trigger. Thus in (l), the only possible interpretation is that the reflexive formcaki 'self' is coreferential with the subject NP Yanshiki; the sentence does not allow the reading in which caki is coreferential with the direct object ai 'child' . (l) Y,mshiki ka ai hI caki ii pang esa ttreli-at-ta 'Yonshigi i hit the child j in self;'s/*self/s room.'