A study of pronominalization in English

Abstract

The primary objective of the present study is to discuss two major approaches to English pronominalization : the Transformational Theory and the Semantic Interpretive Theory. The basic assumption of the former is that pronominalization is a process of a transformation which replaces some fully specified noun phrase in the deep structure with a morphologically and referentially identical pronoun in the surface structure, whereas that of the latter is that pronouns are generated in the deep structure as lexical items containing coreferential properties of pronouns. R. B. Lees and E. S. Klima are the first who have attempted a systematic account of English pronominalization in terms of the Transformational Theory for language. Their treatment of the subject, however, shows a number of shortcomings; especially, it completely ignores backward pronominalization, in which a pronoun refers to the noun phrase following it. Pronominalization requires various constraints for its application' to a phrase-marker. In order to account for these constraints, R. W. Langacker introduces the notion of 'command,' which signifies a relation among the nodes in a phrase-marker. With this notion of 'command' he is able to solve various problems of both forward and backward pronominalization. J. R. Ross, however, suggests that pronominalization is a cyclic transformation; forward pronominalization operates without any constraint, while backward pronominalization operates only into a subordinate clause. Presenting the counter-evidence against Ross' claim that pronominalization is a cyclic transformation, G. Lakoff argues that various constraints on the occurrence of pronouns must be handled as Output Condition, rather than conditions of some cyclic transformational rule. P. Postal proposes a rather universal linguistic concept called the Crossover Principle which roughly says that a transformation may not move an NP over the other coreferential NP. With this concept, he is able to account for some cases of reflexivization, which otherwise disallow a natural explanation. Against all these Transformational accounts, R. S. Jackendoff proposes an alternative treatment of English pronominalization called the Semantic Interpretive approach. He claims that the notion of 'coreferentiality' is not a concept available to transformations, but rather dependent on semantics. Thus, in this approach pronouns are directly generated in the deep structure as lexical items; then the rules of semantic interpretation mark the coreferential relations of pairs of noun phrases. The present paper concludes that the Semantic Interpretive Theory is an optimal device for English pronominalization. However, the study indicates that any theory of pronominalization whose domain of investigation is confined to independent sentences necessarily limits its explanatory power. Thus, a comprehensive theory of pronominalization must include discourses, rather than independent sentences, as its object of investigation.;이 論文은 英語의 代名詞化(Pronominalization)을 說明하는 가장 代表的인 두 理論, -즉 變形 理論(Trnasformational Theory)과 意味 解析 理論(Semantic Interpretive Theory) -을 다루고 있다. 從來의 變形 理論家들은 代名詞化한 深屬構造(Deep Strueture)에서 나타나는 둘 이상의 名詞가 形態的으로 同一하고 이들이 같은 人物(혹은 事物)을 가르킬 때, 주어진 條件에 따라서 表層構造(Surface Strueture)에서 各各 通當한 形態의 代名詞로 變形되는 것이라고 생각했다. R.B. Lees와 Klima가 처음으로 英語의 代名詞化 過程을 變形 文法的인 觀點에서 說明했다. 그러나 그들은 逆行 代名詞化(Back-wrard Pronominelization)는 전혀 說明하지 않았으며, 順行 代名詞化(Forward Bronominalization) 現象도 極히 一部分을 說明하고 있음이 드러났다. R. W. Langacker는 '統制'(Command)라는 새로운 槪念을 導人해서 英語의 順行 代名詞化(Forward Pronominalization) 現象과 逆行 代名詞化(Backwert Pronominalizaion) 現象을 보다 包拈的이고 간단하게 說明했다. 한편, J. R. Ross는 順行 代名詞化는 아무런 制約없이 自由로 일어날 수 있으나 逆行 代名詞化는 特定안 制約을 받는다고 생각하고, 또한 이 代名詞化는 循環的인(Oyclic) 現象이라고 主張했다. 이에 反해 Lakoff는 代名詞化는 表層構造(Surface Structure)에 와서야 나타나는 것으로, 이는 變形 文法의 規則으로서 說明되는 것이 아니라 表層構造(Surface Strueture)의 環境에 따라 決定되어야 한다는 Output Condition을 主張했다. 또한 Lakoff는 代名詞化는 다른 循環性 規則들 다음에 適用되는 Last-cyclic한 規則이라고 糾明했다. 이를 變形 理論(Transformational Theory)에 反해서, R. S. Jackendoff는 代名詞化 過程은 意昧 解析 理論(Interpretive Theory)으로 說明해야 한다고 主張했다. 意味 解析 理論(Interpretive Theory)에 依하면, 代名詞化는 變形(Trasformation)에 求해서 나타나는 것이 아니라, 深層部(Base Structure)에서부터 同一한 人物(혹은 事物)을 나타내고 形態가 同一한 다른 名詞와 함께 lexical item으로서 나타난다. 이 論文에서는 意味 解析 理論(Interpretive Theory)인 英語의 代名詞化(Pronominalization)들 보다 普編的이고 說明的인 것으로 받아들였으나, 이 意味 解析 理論(Interpretive Theory)의 核心的인 槪念들은 變形 理論(Transformational Theory)에서 비롯된 만큼 '銃制'(Command)와 Output Condition은 자세히 살펴 보았다. 또한 이 論文에서는 한 文章 안에서 일어나는 代名詞化만 다루었으나, 보다 完璧한 說明을 위해서는 文章과 文章 사이의 代名詞化 現象까지를 包含하는 硏究가 앞으로 繼續되어야 할 것이다.