A comparison between Polish and English transformations Deletion Prepared by: Żaneta Chłystek Bogumiła Plichcińska one the basis of: Świdziński M., Składnia Bobrowski I., Gramatyka opisowa języka polskiego, T.2, WSP:Kielce 1998

OUTLINE: 1. Definition of transformation. 2. General overview of Polish and English transformations. 3. Deletion in Polish and English: a) deleting non-lexical elements; b) deleting lexical elements: - deleting pronouns; - reduction of co-ordination.

Definition of transformation Transformations are a set of movement rules which inter-relate S-structure and D-structure.

General overview of Polish and English transformations 1. Types of Polish transformations: movements: –operating in simple clauses and in subordinate clauses –cyclic movement (przenoszenie wielokrotne) –indirect movement (przenoszenie niebezpośrednie) replacing lexical elements and adding new ones: –replacing verbs with their periphrastic forms (zasłówki) –replacing the conjunction i with the preposition z –nominalisation (nominalizacja) –replacing verbs with participles deletion transformation of word order

2. Types of English transformations: transformations affecting Phrasal Categories: –Topicalisation –WH-movement –NP-movement –Extraposition and Heavy NP-Shift transformations affecting Terminal Categories: –Affix-hopping –V-raising –Do-support –Subject-Aux inversion

Deletion in Polish and English a) deleting non-lexical elements: all non-lexical elements (e.g. t,, ) must be deleted before they appear in S-structure b) deleting lexical elements: lexical elements can, must or cannot be deleted depending on circumstances (the structure in which they appear and its semantic interpretation)

Deleting pronouns Idę. Nominative of the pronoun ja in Polish can always be removed in simple sentences; its lexical meaning is determined by the inflection ending -ę. S2 S1 S NP VP N V ja idę

Deleting pronouns I go. We cannot delete the pronoun I. It is the subject of the sentence and according to the Extended Projection Principle clauses must have a subject. S1 S NP VP N V I go

Deleting pronouns Ja idę, a ty zostajesz. If ja idę and ty zostajesz are parts of the same co-ordinate structure in which they are connected with the conjunction a, both ja and ty cannot be deleted. S2 S1 S Spw S N V ja idę a ty zostajesz NP VP V N Asia zostaje

Deleting pronouns However, the following sentence is well-formed: Idę, a ty zostajesz. Other possible sentences are not correct, eg.: *Idę, a zostajesz. *Ja idę, a zostajesz. Hence, there is no rule in Polish that would completely prohibit the deletion of pronouns.

Deleting pronouns I go and you stay. We cannot delete the NPs because they are the subjects of the clauses (EPP). It is possible to delete the second NP you, however the meaning of the sentence is completely different. The two verbs refer then to the same noun. I go and stay. S2 S1 S Spw S N V I go and you stay NP VP NP V VP N

Reduction of co-ordination In Polish: Co-ordinate structures in which the same lexical elements appear may or must (depending on the structure) undergo the so- called reduction of co-ordination. E.g.: Chłopiec zdaje egzamin ustny, a dziewczyna pisemny.

Reduction of co-ordination (optional) N V NP N N S2 S1 Spw S VP SS NP AP chłopiec VP a V NP dziewczyna zdaje egzamin A pisemny NP N zdaje egzamin ustny AP A - in this case reduction of co-ordination is optional

Reduction of co-ordination In English: We can delete the verb. The result of this deletion in DS is a trace that functions as a normal verb (subcategorisation). In co-ordinate structures we cannot delete the NPs of the same function. We can only replace them with appropriate pro-forms (after taking into consideration the context). E.g.: The boy takes the written exam and the girl takes the oral exam.

- The boy takes the written exam and the girl takes the oral one. - The boy takes the written exam and the girl t the oral one. - The boy takes the written one and the girl takes the oral one. (context) -*The boy takes the written and the girl takes the oral. -*The boy takes the written exam and the girl takes. ! Verbs are said to subcategorise into various sub-groups, depending on whether they require a complement, and if they do, what type of complement they require. The verb take requires an NP complement. Its subcategorisation frames are as follows: take: [V;_NP]

In Polish repeated co-ordinate elements in DS in which both co-ordinate constituents are conjoined by spójnik przeciwstawny (e.g. a) must be deleted if the N directly dominated by S preceeds the co-ordinate VP or if there are co-ordinate clauses in which there is the same N dominated by S. Reduction of co-ordination in Polish (obligatory)

Reduction of co-ordination in Polish tree representation E.g.: Chłopiec dał Ani książkę, a dziecku gazetę. N V NP N S2 S1 Spw S VP SS NP VP V NP N N N N chłopiec a gazetę dał Ani książkędałdziecku

The lexical material that appears in both components, chłopiec dał, cannot be repeated. If it is, then the sentence is incorrect: *Chłopiec dał Ani książkę, a chłopiec dał dziecku gazetę. *Chłopiec dał Ani książkę, a chłopiec dziecku gazetę. *Chłopiec dał Ani książkę, a dał dziecku gazetę. Reduction of co-ordination in Polish examples

Reduction of co-ordination in English In English: In Ordinary Coordination we can co- ordinate only constituents. A constituent is a set of nodes that are exhaustively dominated by a common node. E.g. The boy gave a book to the girl and (t) a newspaper to the child.

cece S1 and S SS S NP Spec IeIe vP tltl to the child the boy gave l a book v v VP NP V V PP cece IeIe Spec vP v v VP V V PP to the girl the boy gave m a paper NP tmtm In order to find correspondence between the two phrases a book to the girl/ a paper to the child, maybe we could

Verbs like give, put take two complements. Their subcategorisation frames would be [ _NP; NP] [ _NP; PP] eg. (He) gave the girl a book. (He) gave a book to the girl. Such a verb consists of two components in its deep structure: - a light verb (v) - an impoverished version of the verb e.g. GIVE The whole structure is called a VP-shell.

VP-shell If we accept the explanation, then the phrase a book to the girl is treated as a constituent. Thus, it can undergo coordination. The boy [ vP [GAVE] i [ v ] [ VP [ NP a book] [ V t i [ PP to the girl]]]] The boy gave a book to the girl and __ a paper to the child. vP Spec v' NP V V PP VP a book GAVE to the girl v