ABSTRACT
A term from transformational grammar, developed by N.Chomsky, to describe the underlying structure of a linguistic utterance. Deep structure specifies the grammatical relations and functions of the syntactic elements, as well as the linguistic meaning of the elements of a sentence which contain the lexemes, the information important for the execution of transformations. The idea of a difference between two levels of structure in language (deep structure vs surface structure) has a long and complex history and can be found in the writings of the Indian grammarian Pānini (fourth century BC), in the seventeenth-century grammar of Port Royal, and in the writings of Humboldt, Wittgenstein, and Hockett. In transformational grammar both structural levels can be represented by tree diagrams. In Chomsky’s (1965) aspects model, meaning-neutral transformations mediate between the basic tree structure of the deep structure and the derived tree structure of the surface structure, so that the syntactic structure can be interpreteted phonetically. This syntactically motivated concept began a great debate between the supporters of Chomsky and the advocates of generative semantics, who regarded the basic structure as semantic. In the various revisions of the standard theory, the level relevant for semantic interpretation was also changed, the structural information of the deep structure being encoded into the surface structure (now S-structure). In this way, the semantic information remains at S-structure, which has been the input for the semantic interpretation since the Revised Extended Standard Theory. ( also logical form)
References
Chomsky, N. 1965. Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, MA. ——1968. Language and mind. New York. ——1971. Deep structure, surface structure, and semantic interpretation. In D.D.Steinberg and
L.A.Jakobovits (eds), Semantics. London. 183-216. ——1992. A minimalist program for linguistic theory. Cambridge, MA. Hockett, C.F. 1958. A course in modern linguistics, New York. Lakoff, G. and J.R.Ross. 1968. Is deep structure necessary? Bloomington, IN. Postal, P.M. 1964. Constituent structure: a study of contemporary models of syntactic description.
