Chapter: lexicology and its object subject matter of Lexicology

5. Transformational analysis.
Sometimes the distributional analysis alone doesn't show whether the meaning is the same or different. In this case we use transformational analysis. Transformation is any repatterning, remaking of a word group. For example, to tear a curtain — the curtain has a tear to cut a finger — the finger has a cut. A paraphrase of a sentence in which some words are replaced by semantic equivalent is a lexical transformation.
For example. This novel is a best - seller — (this novel is) a book that has one of the biggest sales of the season. A lexical transformation keeps the meaning unchanged.
Transformational analysis in lexicological investigations may be defined as repatterning ( representing , reorganization ) of various distributional structures in order to discover difference or sameness of meaning of practically identical distributional patterns . As distributional patterns are in a number of cases polysemantic transformational procedures are of help not only in the analysis of semantic sameness / difference of the lexical units but also in the analysis of the factors that account for their polysemy . Word-groups of identical distributional structure when repatterned show that the semantic relations between words and consequently the meaning may be different. For example. A pattern "possessive pronoun "+ "noun" (his car , his failure, his arrest, his kindness ). According to transformational analysis the meaning of each word-group may be represented as : he has a car , he failed , he was arrested , he is kind. In each of the cases different meaning is revealed : possession , action , passive action , quality .The rules of sense of the term .There are many restrictions both on syntactic and lexical levels . These are :
1. Permutation - the repatterning on condition that the basic subordinative relationships between words and word-stems of the lexical units are not changed For example. "His work is excellent " may be transformed into " his excellent work, the excellence of his work, he works excellently ".In the example given the relationships between lexical units and the stems of the notional words are essentially the same .
2. Replacement - the substitution of a component of the distributional structure by a member of a certain strictly defined set of lexical units . For example. Replacement of a notional verb by an auxiliary or link verb (he will make a bad mistake and he will make a good teacher). The sentences have identical distributional structure but only in the second one the verb "to make " can be substituted by " become " or " be " . The fact of impossibility of identical transformations of distributionally identical structures is a formal proof of the difference in their meaning .
3. Addition ( or expansion ) may be illustrated by the application of the procedure of addition to the classification of adjectives into two groups- adjectives denoting inherent and non-inherent qualities . For example. John is happy John is tall. We add a word-group " in Moscow ". We shall see that " John is happy in Moscow . " has meaning while the second one is senseless . That is accounted by the difference in the meaning of adjectives denoting inherent (tall) and non- inherent (happy) qualities .
4. Deletion - a procedure which shows whether one of the words semantically subordinated to the other , For example. The word-group "red flowers" may be deleted and transformed into "flowers " without making the sentence senseless : I like red flowers or I like flowers . The other word-group "red tape " can't be deleted and transformed either into " / hate tape " or "I hate red " because in both transformed sentences the meaning of the phrase "red tape" means "bureaucracy" and it can't be divided into two parts.