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Lecture 2 Ling

This document discusses Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG), a theory proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky. It introduces three of Chomsky's main dichotomies: 1) Deep and surface structure, where a sentence has an underlying deep structure and surface phonological form related via transformations. 2) Linguistic competence vs performance, where competence is unconscious grammatical knowledge and performance is actual language use. 3) I-language vs E-language, where I-language is internal mental representation and E-language encompasses external notions of language as shared knowledge. The document also notes some criticisms of TGG, such as how it accounts for children's language errors and its emphasis on competence over performance aspects

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32 views3 pages

Lecture 2 Ling

This document discusses Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG), a theory proposed by linguist Noam Chomsky. It introduces three of Chomsky's main dichotomies: 1) Deep and surface structure, where a sentence has an underlying deep structure and surface phonological form related via transformations. 2) Linguistic competence vs performance, where competence is unconscious grammatical knowledge and performance is actual language use. 3) I-language vs E-language, where I-language is internal mental representation and E-language encompasses external notions of language as shared knowledge. The document also notes some criticisms of TGG, such as how it accounts for children's language errors and its emphasis on competence over performance aspects

Uploaded by

zid3434
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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L3 Linguistics Dr.

Hadi

Lecture 2 : Revision
Transformational Generative Grammar

Introduction
The criticisms of structuralism led to the emergence of a new linguistic theory in the
second half of the 20th century. This new linguistic school started with the publication of a
revolutionary book “Syntactic Structures” (1957) by the American linguist Avram Noam
Chomsky (1928-). This theory is labelled Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG).
Undeniably, the foundations of TGG caused modern linguistics to make a giant leap in its
development. It adopted a mentalist approach to the study of language that is based on the
principle of innateness. For Chomsky, the system of rules that govern our language is innate
to the human mind. All humans are born with and possess these rules. The latter enables us
(we humans) to produce an infinite number of grammatical (correct) sentences. This mental
interpretation, as opposed to structural linguistics that totally ignored any role of the human
mind on language, is the bedrock of Chomsky’s theory. Famous dichotomies of Chomsky are:
Language and E-language/ Linguistic competence and linguistic performance/ Deep and
surface structure.
1-Chomsky’s Diachotomies
1-Deep and Surface Structure
In 1957, Noam Chomsky published Syntactic Structures, in which he developed the idea that
each sentence in a language has two levels of representation — a deep structure and a surface
structure. The deep structure represented the core semantic relations of a sentence, and was
mapped on to the surface structure (which followed the phonological form of the sentence
very closely) via transformations. Chomsky believed there are considerable similarities
between languages' deep structures, and that these structures reveal properties, common to all
languages that surface structures conceal. According to Noam Chomsky from a kernel
sentence we can generate many other sentences.
2-Linguistic Competence / Linguistic Performance
In addition to the distinction between deep and surface structure, Another important
distinction made in transformational-generative grammar is the difference between language
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competence, and language performance. According to Noam Chomsky, Linguistic
competence is the unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to use and
understand a language. Contrast with linguistic performance. As used by Noam Chomsky and
other linguists, linguistic competence is not an evaluative term. Rather, it refers to the innate
linguistic knowledge that allows a person to match sounds and meanings. Linguistic
Performance is the ability to produce and comprehend sentences in a language. Thanks to
Chomsky’s work, most linguists have made a distinction between linguistic competence, and
linguistic performance, which is what a speaker actually does with this knowledge.
3-"I-Language" and "E-Language"
In 1986, Chomsky proposed a distinction between I-Language and E-Language, similar but
not identical to the competence/performance distinction. I-language refers to Internal
language and is contrasted with External Language (or E-language). I-Language is taken to be
the object of study in linguistic theory; it is the mentally represented linguistic knowledge that
a native speaker of a language has, and is therefore a mental object — from this perspective,
most of theoretical linguistics is a branch of psychology. E-Language encompasses all other
notions of what a language is, for example that it is a body of knowledge or behavioural
habits shared by a community. Thus, E-Language is not itself a coherent concept.
2. Criticisms (of TGG)
Regardless of the merits of this linguistic theory, TGG has also presented flaws and
weaknesses. These criticisms are mainly:
▪ If all basic rules of grammar of the child’s language are innate and the environment is not
useful, what accounts for the frequent errors in the child’s communication. The simple answer
is that the environment cannot be eschewed. His approach thus remains radically opposed to
that of Skinner or Piaget, for whom language is constructed solely through simple interaction
with the environment.
▪ For some critics of TGG, Chomsky over-emphasised the role of competence over the
recognition of the performance aspect of language use. Regardless, performance has proved
that it is the way and manner people need to make use of language skills. This performance
skill allows for an endless number of possibilities for the use of language to suit different
situations.
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