Generative Grammar and Linguistic Competence

af P.H. Matthews

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, and Professor Matthews here concludes that Chomsky¿s notion of competence finds no support within linguistics. This book covers a variety o... (Læs mere)