Sentence Stress and Syntactic Transformations

Abstract

If the Nuclear Stress Rule of English is ordered within the transformational cycle after all of the syntactic transformations, many apparent exceptions to Chomsky and Halle (1968) are predictable, for the stress patterns of certain syntactically complex constructions reflect those of the simple sentences embedded within them in deep structure. This preservation of basic stress pattern through the syntactic derivation provides a new method for determining underlying grammatical representations and deciding questions of syntax, which is illustrated. The consequences for linguistic theory, in particular the lexical vs. transformational hypotheses (Chomsky, 1970b), are discussed.

Also appeared in a slightly different form in Language 47 (1971) 257–297. This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Mental Health (Grant MH-13390) and the Institutes of Health (Grant 5 TO1 HD00111).