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4 Generative Grammar

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78 views10 pages

4 Generative Grammar

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estherchighali
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GENERATIVE GRAMMAR

Doctor Chimwemwe Kamanga


(2024)

(Department of Language, Cultural and Creative


Studies- Mzuzu University)
Generative Grammar
 Generative Grammar refers to the set of rules
that indicate the structures and interpretation
of sentences that native speakers of a language
accept as belonging to the language.
 Basic areas of study in Generative Grammar
include Phonology, Morphology, Syntax and
Semantics.
Properties of Generative
Grammar
 There are at least five properties of Generative
Grammar.
The all and only criterion
 The grammar will generate all the well-formed
syntactic structures (phrases, clauses,
sentences) of the language and fail to generate
any ill-formed syntactic structures of the
language.
The totally novel yet
grammatical sentences criterion
 The grammar will have a finite (limited)
number of rules, but it will be capable of
generating an infinitie (unlimited) number of
well-formed syntactic structures.
The recursion criterion
 The grammar will have the capacity to be
applied more than once in generating a
syntactic structure.
The deep structure- surface
structure criterion
 The grammar must be capable of showing that
a single underlying abstract structural
representation can become different surface
structures.
The structural ambiguity
criterion
 The grammar must be capable of showing that a
single surface structure is capable of having
different underlying structural representations
thereby generating different meanings.
 Ambiguity refers to the quality of being open to
more than one interpretation (inexactness).
 Structural ambiguity is refers to the quality of
being open to more than one interpretation
(inexactness) on the basis of syntactic structure.
Example
 We need more intelligent presidents in this
country.
 In one meaning, MORE is grouped with
INTELLIGENT to form MORE
INTELLIGENT.
 In another meaning, INTELLIGENT is
grouped with ADMINISTRATORS to form
INTELLIGENT ADMNISTRATORS.
Other types of ambiguity
 Lexical ambiguity is the kind of ambiguity that
is created by virtue of multiplicity of meaning in
a lexical item.
 Example: I am going to the bank. BANK of a
river or BANK of money?
 Pragmatic ambiguity is a king of ambiguity that
is caused by dependence of meaning on context.
 Example: Do you know where the library is? A
question or a request?

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