Movement paradox
Encyclopedia
A movement paradox is a grammatical
phenomenon which, particularly according to proponents of lexical functional grammar
, presents some problems for a transformational
approach to syntax
. Take the following example sentences:
These two sentences are related by movement in a transformational analysis: in the second sentence, the phrase "the fact that he was sick" has been moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis. However, there are pairs of sentences like this in which the sentence without movement is ungrammatical while the sentence with movement is not:
This may be difficult to explain in an analysis based on movement, since it is not obvious how the second sentence can be grammatical if it is derived from a movement operation applying to an ungrammatical structure, i.e. a structure like that of the first sentence.
Lexical functional grammar avoids these difficulties to some extent because it does not have a movement operation.
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
phenomenon which, particularly according to proponents of lexical functional grammar
Lexical functional grammar
Lexical functional grammar is a grammar framework in theoretical linguistics, a variety of generative grammar. It is a type of phrase structure grammar, as opposed to a dependency grammar. The development of the theory was initiated by Joan Bresnan and Ronald Kaplan in the 1970s, in reaction to...
, presents some problems for a transformational
Transformational grammar
In linguistics, a transformational grammar or transformational-generative grammar is a generative grammar, especially of a natural language, that has been developed in the Chomskyan tradition of phrase structure grammars...
approach to syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
. Take the following example sentences:
- We talked about the fact that he was sick for days.
- The fact that he was sick, we talked about for days.
These two sentences are related by movement in a transformational analysis: in the second sentence, the phrase "the fact that he was sick" has been moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis. However, there are pairs of sentences like this in which the sentence without movement is ungrammatical while the sentence with movement is not:
- *We talked about that he was sick for days.
- That he was sick, we talked about for days.
This may be difficult to explain in an analysis based on movement, since it is not obvious how the second sentence can be grammatical if it is derived from a movement operation applying to an ungrammatical structure, i.e. a structure like that of the first sentence.
Lexical functional grammar avoids these difficulties to some extent because it does not have a movement operation.