Exploratory task 2.5

What transformations do you have to make in order to understand these phrases? Count the number of transformations (new sentences) you need to make in order to understand the original sentence clearly. Rate the sentences in order of difficulty for comprehension. Some examples of transformations have been done for you.

Sentences	Transformations	Rank
A/ Thank you for the present	You gave me a present. I am saying “thank you” for this.
B/ The book that you gave me that I asked you to find for me is now back at the library
C/ The job has been done very fast by the workers and they are now expecting to be paid well.	The workers worked very fast. They completed the job …
D/ Rolling stones in the mountains can be very dangerous.
E/ The daughter of my friend’s nephew who is the son of the famous artist is now my daughter-in-law	My friend has a nephew …

Acquisition of linguistic competence

Linguistic competence is "the system of knowledge that underlies the use and understanding of language" (Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of Language: It's Nature, Origin and Use. N.Y. P. 24). This could involve acting without any conscious rules (e.g. a spider can spin a web without knowing any rules but following the biologically in-built programme). (Aitchison, J. 1999. The Articulate Mammal. An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. L.,N.Y.P.180-182. Harley,T. 1997. The Psychology of Language. Psychology Press. P.141). Linguistic competence starts with the development of the Universal Grammar i.e. basic grammar structures that are typical of all the language in the world and all the language users in their young age. Then Generative Grammar develops and the young language users become competent in how to extend the sentence and add more elements to it. Transformation Grammar makes children competent in comprehending a deep meaning of the sentence. The growth of the "linguistic competence tree" is shown below:

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