Generative Grammar

Generative Grammar

1. is a theory of grammar

2. first developed by Noam Chomsky

   • 1950s

3. the idea that all humans have an innate language capacity.

4. Linguists

   • are not interested in prescriptive rules
   • they are interested
     • he foundational principals that guide all language production.

5. accepts as a basic premise that native speakers

   • sentences grammatical
   • ungrammatical

6. Definition of Generative Grammar

   • refers to the set of rules that structure a language
     • including syntax
   • holds that human language is shaped
     • by a set of basic principles that are part of the human brain
     • comes from our innate language faculty.
   • Frank Parker and Kathryn Riley
     • generative grammar as essentially
     • a set of criteria that linguistic structures must meet to be judged acceptable

7. Generative Vs. Prescriptive Grammar

   • is distinct from other grammars such as prescriptive grammar
   • attempts to establish standardized language rules that deem certain usages
     • "right" or "wrong,"
   • prescriptive grammar
     • a prescriptive grammarian may study how parts of speech are ordered in English sentences

8. Principles of Generative Grammar

   • The idea of an innate language capacity—or a "universal grammar"
     • is not accepted by all linguists
   • generative grammar is that all humans are born with an innate capacity for language and that this capacity shapes the rules for what is considered "correct" grammar in a language.
   • Proponents of the universal grammar
     • believe that children, when they are very young
       • are not exposed to enough linguistic information to learn the rules of grammar.
   • according to some linguists
     • that there is an innate language capacity that allows them to overcome the "poverty of the stimulus."