transformationaladj.
Of or pertaining to transformation; spec. in Linguistics, of or pertaining to a transformation or transformations (sense 3j); (more fully transformational-generative adj.) designating, of, or pertaining to a linguistic model or method of analysis based on the generation of surface structures from underlying structures by transformations; cf. generative grammar n. at generative adj. Compounds and TG n. at T n. Initialisms 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > [adjective]
transformational1894
pantomimic1895
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic relations > [adjective] > change of word order or position > specifically in transformational grammar
transformational1955
transformative1962
1894 Athenæum 10 Nov. 646/2 The distinction between ‘combinational’ and ‘transformational’ theories of experience.
1955 N. Chomsky (title of Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania) Transformational analysis.
1957 N. Chomsky Syntactic Struct. (1962) v. 46 Corresponding to the level of phrase structure, a grammar has a sequence of rules of the form X→Y, and corresponding to lower levels it has a sequence of morphophonemic rules of the same basic form. Linking these two sequences, it has a sequence of transformational rules.
1957 N. Chomsky Syntactic Struct. (1962) ix. 101 The similarity between active-passive, negation, declarative-interrogative, and other transformational relations would not have come to light if the active-passive relation had been investigated exclusively in terms of such notions as synonymity.
1961 P. H. Matthews in Archivum Linguisticum XIII. 196 (heading) Transformational grammar.
1963 F. G. Lounsbury in J. A. Fishman Readings Sociol. of Lang. (1968) 48 One result of transformational analysis..is to lead linguistics a step closer to a general model for the syntax of language.
1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics p. xviii One of the most striking developments in linguistics in the last few years has been the increasing recognition of the transformational model of linguistic statement.
1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics p. xix Some transformationalists, as the adherents of transformational-generative grammar are called.
1964 E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Translating iv. 60 There are some psychological confirmations of transformational theory which seem to have special significance.
1965 N.Y. Times 29 Dec. 32 Transformational grammar grew in part from M.I.T. computer experiments to produce mechanical translations of foreign languages.
1966 T. F. Mitchell in C. E. Bazell In Memory of J. R. Firth 354 One cannot help but be puzzled by the refusal of American transformational-generative grammarians to incorporate in their valuable work collocational study of the kind envisaged here.
1966 Y. Bar-Hillel in Automatic Transl. of Lang. (NATO Summer School, Venice, 1962) 7 Transformational grammars seem to have a much better chance of being both adequate and practical.
1966 Y. Bar-Hillel in Automatic Transl. of Lang. (NATO Summer School, Venice, 1962) 12 The fifth aspect of syntactic complexity is, then, transformational history.
1968 N. Chomsky & M. Halle Sound Pattern Eng. ii. 15 These observations suggest a general principle for the application of rules of the phonological component, namely, what we shall call the principle of the ‘transformational cycle’.
1969 Word 1967 23 47 Since generativists began to turn to the concept of deep grammar as input to the transformational rules that produce ‘surface’ sentences.
1972 Language 48 442 Arens fails to show..the essential ideas and assumptions underlying transformational-generative theory.
1973 Amer. Speech 1969 44 220 The discussion of Middle English grammar and phonology is based on a transformational-generative view of language.
1973 Archivum Linguisticum 4 35 Presumably, in transformational terms, transitive, intransitive, perfective, imperfective..are here surface structure categories.
1976 J. B. Hooper Introd. Nat. Generative Phonol. i. 4 The phonological rules..apply in sequential order... Each rule may apply only once, and is assigned a particular place in the sequence or is said to be ordered with respect to other rules. The theory with this general form will be referred to as transformational generative phonology.
1977 Dædalus Fall 119 The proper division of theoretical labor between rewriting and transformational rules (in particular, how to limit the power of the transformational rules in intuitively reasonable ways) has been a central concern of those who have worked with this conception of grammar.
1980 Word 1979 30 132 Some degree of exposure to transformational-generative grammar, case grammar and other theoretical approaches is evident in several [Vietnamese] works.
1980 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 25 i. 1 The standard theory referred to as transformational generative phonology.
1980 Eng. World-wide 1 i. 133 Transformational grammar has shown itself unable to handle the problem of the description of varieties which are as apparent in the 16th and 17th centuries as at the present day.
Derivatives
Hence in Linguistics:
transforˈmationalism n. transformational theory.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > schools or theories of grammar > [noun] > transformational grammar
TG1968
transformationalism1969
1969 Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 70 221 Chomskyan transformationalism rejects a scientific approach for an anti-scientific one.
1976 Archivum Linguisticum 7 155 It is interestingly novel, however, within the framework of contemporary transformationalism in America.
transforˈmationalist n. an adherent of transformational theory; also attributive or as adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > schools or theories of grammar > [adjective] > transformational
transformationalist1964
Chomskyan1965
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > schools or theories of grammar > [noun] > transformational grammar > adherent of
transformationist1888
transformationalist1964
Chomskyan1975
1964 E. Bach Introd. Transformational Gram. viii. 187 The transformationalists have provided elegant and powerful tools for the description of particular languages.
1973 Amer. Speech 1970 45 125 A question that challenged the structuralist linguistic theory..and that seems no more amenable to a transformationalist solution.
1978 Language 54 174 Raimo Anttila's ‘Revelation as linguistic revolution’..reads like an extemporaneous sermon on the wickedness of the transformationalists.
1980 Eng. World-wide 1 268 The neglect of the results of earlier scholarship on the part of young linguists, especially of the transformationalist school.
transforˈmationally adv. by means of transformation(s), according to transformational rules.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic relations > [adverb] > by means of transformation
transformationally1963
1963 Amer. Speech 38 240 These attributives can be related transformationally to predications.
1977 Dædalus Fall 119 If the interrogative sentence ‘Are the men here?’ is derived transformationally from the phrase structure underlying the declarative sentence ‘The men are here’, it would seem to imply that a speaker first thinks of the declarative sentence and then transforms it into the interrogative form.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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adj.1894