local (adj.)

A type of TRANSFORMATION, introduced by Noam Chomsky (in Aspects of the Theory of Syntax), which affects only a subSTRING DOMINATED by a single CATEGORY symbol: the applicability of the RULE is thus determined by the PHRASE STRUCTURE of the string, not just by the SEQUENCE of elementary symbols of which the string is composed. For example, the way in which the rules of the transformational CYCLE in PHONOLOGY are applied to assign STRESS depends on the way the FORMATIVES are categorized, e.g. as NOUN, VERB, ADJECTIVE, etc., in the phrase-structure TREE.