This topic contains a solution. Click here to go to the answer

Author Question: Explain deep structure and surface structure. What will be an ideal ... (Read 124 times)

MirandaLo

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 538
Explain deep structure and surface structure.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What is a phoneme?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question
Marked as best answer by a Subject Expert

raenoj

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 340
Answer to Question 1

In transformational grammar, deep structure refers to an underlying syntactical structure that links various phrase structures through various transformation rules. In contrast, surface structure refers to any of the various phrase structures that may result from such transformations. Many casual readers of Chomsky have misunderstood Chomsky's terms. They incorrectly inferred that deep structures refer to profound underlying meanings of sentences, whereas surface structures refer only to superficial interpretations of sentences. This is not the case. Chomsky meant only to show that differing phrase structures may have a relationship that is not immediately apparent by using phrase-structure grammar alone.

Answer to Question 2

A phoneme is the smallest unit of speech sound that can be used to distinguish one utterance from another (i.e., to change the meaning of a word). In English, phonemes are made up of vowel or consonant sounds, like a, i, s, and f. For example, the word sit contains the phonemes /s/, /i/, and /t/, and by changing the phonemes we can change the meaning of sit to sat, fat, and fit. Different languages use different numbers and combinations of phonemes. North American English has about 40 phonemes. Hawaiian has about 13 phonemes. Some African dialects have up to 60.




MirandaLo

  • Member
  • Posts: 538
Reply 2 on: Jun 20, 2018
Wow, this really help


LegendaryAnswers

  • Member
  • Posts: 341
Reply 3 on: Yesterday
Great answer, keep it coming :)

 

Did you know?

Never take aspirin without food because it is likely to irritate your stomach. Never give aspirin to children under age 12. Overdoses of aspirin have the potential to cause deafness.

Did you know?

The tallest man ever known was Robert Wadlow, an American, who reached the height of 8 feet 11 inches. He died at age 26 years from an infection caused by the immense weight of his body (491 pounds) and the stress on his leg bones and muscles.

Did you know?

Today, nearly 8 out of 10 pregnant women living with HIV (about 1.1 million), receive antiretrovirals.

Did you know?

There are approximately 3 million unintended pregnancies in the United States each year.

Did you know?

Vaccines cause herd immunity. If the majority of people in a community have been vaccinated against a disease, an unvaccinated person is less likely to get the disease since others are less likely to become sick from it and spread the disease.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library