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A TRANSFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS OF MODERN FRENCH GRAMMAR IS SIMILAR TO THE "RULE OF CACAPHONY" PROPOSED BY PORT-ROYAL GRAMMARIANS TO AVOID BAD PRONUNCIATION. BY MEANS OF CERTAIN REWRITE RULES, THE CORRECT USAGE OF THE PARTITIVE (DE) CAN BE TAUGHT AND EXPLAINED MORE SIMPLY THAN WAS POSSIBLE USING THE TRADITIONAL METHOD. THE RULE OF CACAPHONY (RC) IS VERY USEFUL IN THE STUDY OF NOUN DETERMINERS AND NOUN COMPLEMENTS, AND REVEALS SOME IMPORTANT NOTIONS ABOUT NOMINAL GROUPS AS FUNCTIONS OF THEIR DETERMINERS AND OF THEIR GRAMMATICAL ROLES IN THE SENTENCE. THE DETERMINERS ARE LIMITED TO THREE CLASSES--(1) THE DEFINITE ARTICLE, (2) POSSESSIVE AND DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES, AND (3) CARDINAL NUMBERS AND THE FOLLOWING INDEFINITES--THE PLURAL INDEFINITE ARTICLE "DES" (DE LES) AND THE PARTITIVES"DE LA" (DE L') AND "DU" (DE LE OR DE L'). TRANSFORMATION THEORY CAN ALSO BE APPLIED TO NOMINALIZATIONS FROM VERB TO NOUN FORMS, TO PASSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS, AND TO THE STRUCTURING OF ADVERBIAL PHRASES. THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED IN THE FRENCH JOURNAL "ART," NUMBER 4, MARCH 1967. (FB)