Deep Structure of Language:
• Basic overview of Deep Structure (and Transformational Grammar).
• Chomsky on Deep Structure
• Chomsky on Linguistic Universals and Syntax (1953). "Semantics" is the study of meaning. Chomsky is interested in studying language with minimal reference to the meaning of words. In a famous example, he wants to know why the following sentence is a legal English utterance: Green dreams sleep furiously.
• A great book on the "Linguistic Wars" that followed. (Free through UMass)
• An alternative explanation from 2013, Scientific American.
With regard to our discussions about homology, here is an example of a linguistics a tree diagram. Think of the root-branch structure of highways, phone exchanges, the internet, etc. |