| Description |
This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the syntax of Shoshoni with the goal of leading towards further investigations into the language. The framework of transformational-generative grammar has been used to describe the language without a strict adherence to the claims generally made by such grammars. Since the interest of this paper 1s the syntax, no attention has been given to phonological problems. The three main parts of the syntax (the phrase structure rules, the lexicon, and the transformations) are illustrated, each with supporting examples. The chapter on the phrase structure shows rules for characterizing sentence patterns, starting with the most basic and continuing on to rules which generate the more complex sentence structures. The natural emphasis in Shoshoni is on the verb phrases phrase since the noun phrase undergoes few syntactic changes ; therefore, a greater emphasis has been pub on rules dealing with the verb phrase. Each of the phrase structure rules is shown with a brief explanation and examples. The third chapter deals with some syntactic features and the way they are employed by selected word classes in Shoshoni. Three classes have been shown in some detail. the tense-aspect suffixes, the locative prefixes, and the adverbial suffixes, The section on transformations shows rules which are applied to the terminal nodes of the phrase structure rules after the insertion of the lexical items as defined by the features. Both transformations applying to more than one sentence and those which take place within a sentence axe discussed in this chapter. |
