generative grammar

an approach to linguistics in which the goal is to account for the infinite set of possible grammatical sentences in a language using a finite set of generative rules. Unlike earlier inductive approaches that set out to describe and draw inferences about grammar on the basis of a corpus of natural language, the theories of generative grammar developed by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s and 1960s took for their basic data the intuitions of native speakers about what is and is not grammatical (see competence; grammaticality). In taking this mentalist approach, Chomsky not only repudiated any behaviorist account of language use and acquisition but also revolutionized the whole field of linguistics, effectively redefining it as a branch of cognitive psychology. Much research in psycholinguistics has since focused on whether the various models suggested by generative grammar have psychological reality in the production and reception of language. See also finite-state grammar; government and binding theory; phrase-structure grammar; transformational generative grammar.

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Psychology term of the day

December 23rd 2024

scientific explanation

an account of an event, behavior, or thought that is couched in terms of an established set of scientific principles, facts, and assumptions. Typical forms of explanation may be reductionistic, analyzing a phenomenon into components and describing how they combine to produce the phenomenon; ontogenic, relating the phenomenon to a universal set of developmental stages; empiricistic, describing a phenomenon in terms of the conditions that have been observed to produce it; or metaphoric or categorical, identifying a phenomenon as similar in some important respects to other phenomena already understood. Such an explanation stated systematically is generally known as a theory.