ABSTRACT
In this and the following chapter we focus on two stages in derivation which occur immediately after the PSG has generated an underlying string. These were represented in lines (7) and (8)-(9) in our sample derivation of the previous chapter. Line (6) showed the output of the PSG as a string of abstract syntactic symbols, some lexical and some deictic:
Det + N + Aux + V + Det + N
Line (7) substitutes real lexical items for N and V, and thus relates the string to a specific topic of discourse:
Det +John+ Aux +eat+ Det +apple
Lines (8)-(9), which were conflated in the sample derivation, introduce precise realizations of Det and Aux. The effect of these substitutions is to place the topic of discourse in a setting: to 'orientate' the speaker and hearer, and their time and place of discourse, in relation to a setting relevant to the statement:
John+ Past+ eat+ the+ apples
In a full derivation, each of these two stages would occupy several lines, not just the one given for the lexical process and the two allowed for the specification of Det and Aux. The sample derivation shows only the general nature of what happens and - but this is extremely important - the fact that lexical interpretation occurs before the two 'deictic' symbols are replaced.
