Class Work

ENG 312.1

1. The derivations of the following sentences involve the inversion transformation. Give the
deep structure and surface structure for each sentence.

a) Will the boss hire Hilary?

b) Can the dog fetch the Frisbee?
c) Should the student report the incident?
d) Must the musician play that music?
e) Is that player leaving the team?
2. The following sentences involve the rules of the Wh Movement and inversion. Give the deep
structure and surface structure for each of these sentences.

a) Who should the director call?

b) Who should call the director?
c) What is Joanne eating?
d) Who will those immigrants live with?
e) What might Chris bake for the party?
f) What was Anne bringing to the gathering?
3. The following data is from Igbo, a language spoken in Nigeria.

a) Nwáàn’ýáhu
woman that
‘that woman’
b) ulo á
house this
‘this house’
i. What is the relative order of the determiner and noun in Igbo?
ii. Draw the phrase structure trees for the two Igbo phrases.
4. The following data are from Malagasy, spoken on the island of Madagascar.

a) Entin’ kafeizy.
brings coffee he
‘He brings coffee.’
b) Mankanyamin’ ny restaurant izy.
goes to the restaurant he
‘He goes to the restaurant.’
i. Based on these data, what are the phrase structure rules for Malagasy?
ii. Draw the tree structure for each of the Malagasy structures.