representation (n.)

A term used, especially in GENERATIVE LINGUISTICS, to refer to the relationship of correspondence existing between the successive levels of analysis which are recognized in generating a SENTENCE. The DATA of LANGUAGE are represented as a configuration of ELEMENTS at a given level (e.g. ‘SEMANTIC/ PHONOLOGICAL/DEEP-STRUCTURAL/SYSTEMATIC PHONETIC . . . representation’ of a sentence), and the RULES of the grammar assign STRUCTURAL DESCRIPTIONS to these representations. For example, in a phonetic representation, an UTTERANCE might be analyzed in terms of a MATRIX where the various rows are labelled by phonetic FEATURES and the columns are successive SEGMENTS. The notion has become a central issue in phonological theory, where the question of the nature and organization of representations has characterized a great deal of work in NON-LINEAR PHONOLOGY. Different approaches can be distinguished by their principles of representation – for example, by the way they handle word PHONOTACTICS, phonological ALTERNATIONS, or phonological CONTRASTS – and the issue of representation is at the centre of several models, notably UNDERSPECIFICATION theory.