Bruce,

You've got it right.  A generative grammar defines formally the
infinite set of sentences that is a language, in the same sense
that the formula n=2m-1 defines the infinite set of odd integers.
There are a number of important and troublesome assumptions built
into the decision to use a generative definition.  The first and
largest is the notion that a language is a set of sentences, a
statement that excludes all behavior and culture from the domain
of linguistics.  A lot of us would reject this notion for a
variety of reasons and to a variety of extents.  A second is that
the set of sentences is infinite.  This assumption is necessarily
true from a mathematical perspective, but it imposes the formal
possibility of sentences in the set that cannot in fact occur in
normal language usage, including some, but not all,
center-embedded sentences like "The policeman the boy the dog bit
called came.  That said, generative grammar has contributed
important insights to our knowledge of what language is and how it
works.  It is, however, a highly formal, rigorous, and abstract
side of the study of grammar that shouldn't be inflicted on the
innocent and unsuspecting.  You have to want to do linguistics
that way, and if you do, you'll likely find much in it that is
satisfying and rewarding.

Herb Stahlke

>>> [log in to unmask] 02/23/01 03:21PM >>>
What does the 'generative' in the term GT-grammar mean?  My
understanding is that it is a mathematical term.  It's one of two
different ways to look at a formal object. A structural way of
viewing a circle in geometry is that it is an infinite sided
regular polygon.  A generative way of looking at the same thing is
to say that it is the locus of the points equidistant from a given
point.  This is one way to generate, or draw the circle.  This may
be the way it came about, but it doesn't have to be.  We can also
look at the structural definition and go about drawing
(generating) it in the same way.  In fact neither mathematical
description tells us really how we can draw it.  It just seems
like the generative definition is somehow closer.  Yet looks can
be deceiving.  Any comment?

Bruce Despain
Volunteer ESL tudor
Salt Lake City, Utah
[log in to unmask]

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/