Is there such a thing as generative grammar?

Answer

Bye Sara

Generative grammar was named and developed in the 1950s by the well-known linguist Noam Chomsky (= also political activist, philosopher, essayist). Together with Ferdinand de Saussure (early 20th century; called the father of structuralism), Chomsky is a very influential linguist. Together they have strongly determined the vision of language in the 20th century.

In short, generative grammar is the study of language in the form of “grammar” which aims to analyze what happens in the language user before he makes a language production (ie pronounces something). Generative grammar examines the transformations that take place between what is called the deep structure of language (the underlying structure) and what the user ultimately produces (the overlying structure). “I told him that” = parent structure – “I (person) + say (as completed act)/father/teacher/…” could be an underlying structure. Those underlying structures of language would – in the view of “transformational” grammar (as generative grammar is also called) – be universal. The theory of Michael Tomasello – a highly influential psychologist-anthropologist today – goes directly against Chomsy’s theory and rejects the idea of ​​that universal underlying structure. Tomasello sees language acquisition more as a process in which the language user is defined as a learner who is able to share “attention” with another (joint attention). At Tomasello, language is part of evolution and the will/capacity to communicate. Gradually, the user learns to use the language. He looks at language acquisition and language production within a cultural, social framework, where Chomsky abstracted from this fact and considered a purely theoretical substructure that is, so to speak, “intuitively” transformed by the language user. There are two views (chomsky’s view is therefore a bit dated but is certainly still included in linguistics) about how language productions come about.

This explanation is a bit short sighted because formulated in a nutshell. You should go to the library to read more and more deeply about this. You will find many works on both linguists. Tomasello is still publishing today. His works are therefore very recent. Let yourself be guided in this by a professor of linguistics or a language teacher who has (or is still deepened) in linguistics.

Good luck in this fascinating journey of discovery,

Valeria