Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Generative Grammar and Linguistic Competence

Generative Grammar and Linguistic Competence

Matthews

Hardcover

Series: Routledge Library Editions: Linguistics

Grammar & StyleLinguistics

ISBN10: 0415723728
ISBN13: 9780415723725
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Nov 21 2013
Pages: 112
Weight: 0.75
Height: 0.31 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

According to Chomsky, to learn a language is to develop a grammar for it - a generative grammar which assigns a definite structure and a definite meaning to each of a definite set of sentences. This forms the speaker's linguistic competence, which represents a distinct faculty of the mind, called the faculty of language. This view has been widely criticised, from many separate angles and by many different authors, including some of Chomsky's pupils. As one of the earliest and most persistent critics, Professor Matthews is especially well placed to tie these arguments together. He concludes that Chomsky's notion of competence finds no support within linguistics. It can be defended, if at all, only by assuming a traditional philosophy of mind. The notion of grammar should therefore be restricted to descriptive linguistics, and should not have psychological interpretations foisted on it. Peter Matthews' book covers a variety of topics, from morphology to speech acts, from word meaning to the study of language variation, and from blending in syntax to the relation of language and culture. This wide range of subject matter is incisively handled in a style which is both elegant and economical.

1 different editions

Also available

Also from

Matthews

View All

Also in

Grammar & Style

View All