Deep Structure

Deep structure is a linguistic concept that represents the underlying meaning or core message of a sentence, beyond its surface words. It's like the hidden blueprint that reveals what someone truly intends to communicate, regardless of how the sentence is phrased. For example, different sentences such as "The dog chased the cat" and "The cat was chased by the dog" share the same deep meaning, even though their surface structures differ. Understanding deep structure helps linguists analyze how language conveys ideas consistently across different statements and languages.