Transformational Grammar: A First Course

Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics

by Andrew Radford

Radford's new textbook is primarily for students with little or no background in syntax who need a lively and up-to-date introduction to contemporary work on transformational grammar. It covers four main topics: the goals of linguistic theory, syntactic structure, the nature and role of the lexicon, and the function and operations of transformations. The general framework considers major works, such as Chomsky's Knowledge of Language and Barriers , written since the publication of Radford's widely acclaimed Transformational Syntax in 1981. The present book uses a more recent theoretical construction and also covers a wider range of frameworks at the descriptive level than its predecessor. Radford is well known for his effective teaching approaches and this current volume demonstrates his talent by giving a concise, non-technical introduction to the field. At each chapter's end are exercises that reinforce the text, allowing students to apply the various concepts discussed and encouraging them to look more critically at some of the assumptions and analyses presented. Radford provides a useful, detailed bibliography of primary source material.

Genres: Linguistics, Reference, Nonfiction, Language

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 1982

Reviews

[Marcus Lira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book is awfully outdated now, and Andrew Radford's "Minimalist Syntax" already rendered this book kind of obsolete, it's a great read (and a lovely introduction to this wacky stuff Chomskians work with, specially if you want to know what happened before things went Minimal in Generative Grammar). It really feels like professor Radford himself is by your side teaching you how to get through the most abstract concepts with simplicity and humour.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew, I finally finished. This is a solid syntax book as a primary syntax-learning source, even though it's old now (like me). A lot of dense math texts have a few cheeky lines which keep you going, but this had whole paragraphs of personality! Radford did good there. Of course, I already like syntax much more than math, and I was reading this sort of with a historical eye (“so this is how they did things…”) and a pedagogical one (“any exercises I can adapt? :D?”) rather than as a learner myself. The exercises are more thought-provoking than a lot of popular introductory syntax books (more data sets and hypothesis testing vs mechanical application of concepts), which I appreciate. Big Sandy Chung vibes.

I feel obligated to point out that there are plenty of “of the time” sexist things and gender stereotype-y comments, mainly in the interest of keeping things ~fun~, but that’s par for the course in pre-2000s syntax (and, possibly, pre-2000s life). There's also a lot of "we'll get to this in volume 2", which annoyed me once I discovered that "Volume 2" wasn't the second half of this book, but instead a different sequel book. HOWEVER, I don't think that Volume 2 was ever even published, so my annoyance has turned to lols.

[A.rhubarb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very dry and difficult to read. Hence the lower rating for content and applied uses I would give it five. This must have been a difficult book to write. Not necessarily a book read for pleasure. I read it because I love language, deep structure and surface structures alike. I enjoy grammar.

[Leonardo]

...provides a gentle introduction to transformational grammar, and can be recommended for its coverage of transformational approaches to unbounded dependency constructions.

Natural Language Processing with Python Pág.322

[Dan'l · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the most accessible (yet then-comprehensive) introduction to transformational grammar of its era back in the early 1990s, when I took this class as an undergraduate. Rare is the thrill to read to see the mind opened up to mechanisms underlying how the mind works.

[A. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A text, but one of the few which helped in the start!

[Rawia]

very good