NooJ grammars for Italian transformational analysis

a brief outline

Abstract

As known, Transformational Grammar (TG) focuses on bidirectional relationships between sentences sharing the same lexical material, in some cases also the same meaning, but always differing in terms of formal structure and word distribution. We represent such relationships with the symbol “=” (equal to). For instance, we can connect a declarative sentence to its negative and/or passive forms. Similarly, we can connect complex sentences to the respective simple sentences, which make them up, such as sentences with reciprocal verbs and collective subjects, obtained through the coordination of two simple sentences. According to Maurice Gross [1] and Max Silberztein [2,3], examples of possible transformations are those going from declarative sentences to Interrogatives, Pronominalization, Juxtapositions, or other processes producing the so-called Mirror Transformations. In addition, two or more transformations can operate simultaneously on a declarative sentence.