surface structures
surface structure
n.
In early theories of generative grammar, the abstract syntactic structure of a construction, derived from deep structure, that determines and corresponds most closely with observed word order.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
surface structure
n
(Grammar) generative grammar a representation of a string of words or morphemes as they occur in a sentence, together with labels and brackets that represent syntactic structure. Compare deep structure
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
sur′face struc`ture
n.
(in transformational grammar)
1. a structural representation of the final syntactic form of a sentence, as it exists after the transformational component has modified a deep structure.
2. the string of words that is actually produced.
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