Origins of Transformational Generative Grammar: Language Diversity

Origins of Transformational Generative Grammar

Introduction

From the late 1950s onwards, structural linguistics has sometimes been used with less popularity because supporters of generative linguistics initiated by Noam Chomsky have regarded the work of American structuralists as too limited in conception. They have argued that it is essential to go further than the position of items to produce a grammar which reflects a native speaker’s knowledge of language.

2. Criticism of Structuralism

2.4. Language Diversity

Bloomfield and his followers emphasised the structural diversity of languages following Boas . They tended to overstate the divergences between languages and have placed excessive accent on the principle that every language is a unique law. To arrive at a complete understanding of each language’s structure, a linguist adopts a descriptive approach to the data.