Universal & generative gramar

• Chomsky's universal grammar 


  • have innate linguistic knowledge
  • can utter/ understand infinite number of sentences
  • despite having finite storage in brain
• Chomsky's universal grammar - syntax = cognitive reality

  • syntax/ rules for sentence structure = inherent to human cognition - not specifically learnt
  • universal language = biological - predisposition
  • not born with a particular grammar
• Chomsky's universal grammar - syntax = cognitive reality - how


  • = detect patterns in surrounding language & match with pre-existing structures in brains
  • subconscious process activates matching structures & deactivates non-matching
  • = language development without traditional learning
• Generative grammar

  • linguistic framework/ theory
  • Phase structure rules & axiom define what is syntactically legal
  • deep syntactic structure from surface form - aims to uncover underlying structure of sentences from surface form
• Generative grammar - Derived structure


  • phase structure tree
  • final structure obtained through process (start symbol, apply rules, finish = only terminals remain) = derived structure
  • represents grammatically valid sentence according to rules of generative grammar
• Syntactic recursion

  • some rules generate constituents that contain themselves
  • = 1 constituent can be embeded inside another of same type
  • recursive structure enables creation of complex sentences with nested clauses or phrases
  • no limit to depth of synaptic recursion
• Syntactic recursion - Chomsky - Infinite rule-governed creativity

  • although language governed by finite set of syntactic rules & limited vocabulary -
  • can create infinite variety of sentences
  • by recursively embedding phrases or clauses within larger structures
  • = allows generate complex & novel expressions - contributing to seemingly limitless creative capacity of human language