语言学TG grammar

TGgrammar,BackgroundaboutTGgrammar,Inthelate1950s,NoamChomskyfoundedanewtheoryinAmericaandgaveviolentimpactonthestructuralistdescriptivelinguistics.Hetriedtoopenuparoutewhenhefoundthattheclassificationofstructuralelementsoflanguageaccordingtodistributionandsubstitutionhaditslimitations.FromthispracticeChomskygraduallyestablishedthewell-knownTGgrammar.,NoamChomsky：HeisanAmericanlinguist.Sometimesdescribedasthefatherofmodernlinguistics.Chomskyscontribution:InnatenessHypothesis,UniversalGrammarandParticularGrammar,CompetenceandPerformence,DeepstructureandSurfacestructure,WhatisTGGrammar?,TGgrammar,firstputforwardbyAmericanlinguistNoamChomskyinthe1950s,isareactiontotraditionalandstructuralistlinguistics.Differentfromthestructuralismbasedonbehaviorisminpsychology,Chomskyarguesforamentalistapproachtostudylanguage.Inhisschool,thewordgrammarisgivenaspecialsignificance.Grammar,inChomskyansense,referstoonesinnatecompetenceoflanguage.Themainfocusthenwastoaccountforthecreativityofhumanlanguage.Oneofhisfamoustenetsishumanbeingshavetheabilitytocreateandunderstandaninfinitenumberofsentenceswithafinitesetofrules.Thenewtheoryseemedtoworkwellinexplainingsomeofthesentencessuchasembeddedstructures,activev.passivestructuresetc.,MainfeaturesofTGgrammar:,1.Rationalism2.Innateness3.Deductivemethodology4.Emphasisoninterpretation5.Formalization6.Emphasisonlinguisticcompetence7.Stronggenerativepowers8.Emphasisonlinguisticuniversals,TwoAspectsofTGGrammar,SurfaceStructure:Thestructureofsentenceasitisactuallyproducedorunderstood,thesyntacticstructureofsentencewhichapersonspeaks,hears,readsorwrites.DeepStructure:Thedeepstructureismuchmoreabstractandisconsideredtobeinthespeakers,hearers,writersorreadersmind.,Competenceandperformance,Competence-theidealusersknowledgeoftherulesofhislanguage.Performance-theactualrealizationofthisknowledgeinlinguisticcommunication.Chomskylooksatlanguagefromapsychologicalpointofviewandtohimcompetenceisapropertyofthemindofeachindividual.,FiveStagesofTGGrammar,1Theclassicaltheory(1955-1965)：aimstomakelinguisticsascience.2Thestandardtheory(1965-1970)：dealswithhowsemanticsshouldbestudiedinalinguistictheory.3Theextendedstandardtheory(1970-1980)：focusesdiscussiononlanguageuniversalsanduniversalgrammar.4Therevisedextendedstandardtheory(GB)(1980-1992)：focusesdiscussionongovernmentandbinding.5Theminimalistprogramtheory(1992-)：afurtherrevisionoftheprevioustheory.,Languageacquisitiondevice,Thisisakeyconceptininnatistviewsoflanguagelearningwhichpostulatethatallpeoplearebornwithsomeknowledgeoflanguage.LAD,orcalledasUGsubsequently,isaninborncapacityforanykindoflanguage.However,thisshouldnotbetakenasthatwearebornwithknowledgeoftheparticularrulesofourownlanguage,butratherLAD/UGconsistsofgeneraloruniversalprinciplesofalllanguages.Thisinnateknowledgeallowsustoselectaparticularlanguagebasedonafewinstancesofinputandproduceverycomplexoutputthatwehehaveneverencounteredbefore.,Chomskysinnatenesshypothesisisbasedonhisobservationsthatsomeimportantfactscanneverbeotherwiseexplainedadequately.1.Chomskynoticedthatchildrenlearntheirnativelanguageveryfastandwithlittleeffort.Consideringthefactthatthesmallchildrenarenotyetintellectuallymatureinanyotherfields,thisissurprisinglyfast.Thefirstlanguageacquisitioninvariablytakesplacewithoutformal,explicitinstruction:theinputisdegeneratedata,buttheoutputisaperfectlanguagesystem.,2.Childrenintheworldlearntheirmothertongueinverydifferentenvironments,however,theyfollowmoreorlessthesamestagesintheirlinguisticdevelopment:babblingstage,nonsensewordstage,holophrasticstage,two-wordstage,developinggrammar,near-adultgrammarandfullcompetence.,3.Duringthelimitedperiodoftime,fromlimitedexposuretospeech,thechildlearnsthetotalgrammarofthelanguage.Hecannotonlyproduceandunderstandnotonlysentenceshehasheardbutalsothesentenceshehasneverheardbefore.Whathelearnsseemstobeasetofrulesratherthanindividualsentences.,DifferencesbetweenstructualgrammarandTGgrammar.,First,Bloomfielddefineslanguageasasetofutterancesandasetof“lexicalandgrammaticalhabits”Chomskydefinesthelanguageasasetofrulesorprinciples.,Secondly,thetwogrammarshavedifferentaimsinlinguistics.ForStructuralGrammartheaimoflinguisticsistodescribeoneorsetoflanguages,suchdescriptionisoftenevaluatedintermsoftheusetowhichitisgoingtobeput.ForChomsky,theaimoflinguisticsistoproducegenerativegrammarwhichcapturesthetacitknowledgeofthenativespeakerofhislanguage.,Thirdly,thetwogrammarsmakeuseofdifferenttypeofdataintheiranalysis.Thestructralistsonlymakeuseofnaturallyoccurringutterances,observedandobservable.Theyarenotallowedtoconsulttheinformantwhetherasentenceisgrammaticalornot.Incontrast,Chomskyandhisfollowersareinterestedinanydatathatcanrevealthenativespeakerstacitknowledge.Theyseldomusewhatnativespeakersactuallysay;theyrelyontheirownintuition.,Fourthly,thetwogrammariansemploydifferentmethods.Thestructuralistsmethodologyisessentiallyinductive.Bloomfieldsaid,“theonlyusefulgeneralizationaboutlanguageisinductive.”whereas,Chomskysmethodologyishypothesis-deductive,which,accordingtoChomskyhimself,operatesattwolevels:(a)thelinguistformulatesahypothesisaboutthelanguagestructure-agenerallinguistictheory;thisistestedonlybygrammarsforparticularlanguages,and(b)eachsuch