Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory
This Perspective traces the evolution of certain central notions in the theory of Generative Grammar (GG). The founding documents of the field suggested a relation between the grammar, construed as recursively enumerating an infinite set of sentences, and the idealized native speaker that was essent...
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doaj-a96a60bae4fa46a3b1a92530552c9b252020-11-24T22:27:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782017-09-01810.3389/fpsyg.2017.01617277323Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic TheoryDennis OttThis Perspective traces the evolution of certain central notions in the theory of Generative Grammar (GG). The founding documents of the field suggested a relation between the grammar, construed as recursively enumerating an infinite set of sentences, and the idealized native speaker that was essentially equivalent to the relation between a formal language (a set of well-formed formulas) and an automaton that recognizes strings as belonging to the language or not. But this early view was later abandoned, when the focus of the field shifted to the grammar's strong generative capacity as recursive generation of hierarchically structured objects as opposed to strings. The grammar is now no longer seen as specifying a set of well-formed expressions and in fact necessarily constructs expressions of any degree of intuitive “acceptability.” The field of GG, however, has not sufficiently acknowledged the significance of this shift in perspective, as evidenced by the fact that (informal and experimentally-controlled) observations about string acceptability continue to be treated as bona fide data and generalizations for the theory of GG. The focus on strong generative capacity, it is argued, requires a new discussion of what constitutes valid empirical evidence for GG beyond observations pertaining to weak generation.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01617/fullgenerative grammargrammaticalityacceptabilityevidencemethodology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dennis Ott |
spellingShingle |
Dennis Ott Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory Frontiers in Psychology generative grammar grammaticality acceptability evidence methodology |
author_facet |
Dennis Ott |
author_sort |
Dennis Ott |
title |
Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory |
title_short |
Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory |
title_full |
Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory |
title_fullStr |
Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory |
title_full_unstemmed |
Strong Generative Capacity and the Empirical Base of Linguistic Theory |
title_sort |
strong generative capacity and the empirical base of linguistic theory |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2017-09-01 |
description |
This Perspective traces the evolution of certain central notions in the theory of Generative Grammar (GG). The founding documents of the field suggested a relation between the grammar, construed as recursively enumerating an infinite set of sentences, and the idealized native speaker that was essentially equivalent to the relation between a formal language (a set of well-formed formulas) and an automaton that recognizes strings as belonging to the language or not. But this early view was later abandoned, when the focus of the field shifted to the grammar's strong generative capacity as recursive generation of hierarchically structured objects as opposed to strings. The grammar is now no longer seen as specifying a set of well-formed expressions and in fact necessarily constructs expressions of any degree of intuitive “acceptability.” The field of GG, however, has not sufficiently acknowledged the significance of this shift in perspective, as evidenced by the fact that (informal and experimentally-controlled) observations about string acceptability continue to be treated as bona fide data and generalizations for the theory of GG. The focus on strong generative capacity, it is argued, requires a new discussion of what constitutes valid empirical evidence for GG beyond observations pertaining to weak generation. |
topic |
generative grammar grammaticality acceptability evidence methodology |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01617/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT dennisott stronggenerativecapacityandtheempiricalbaseoflinguistictheory |
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