Examines the claim that transformational rules are psychologically real, and applies this claim to all aspects of transformational grammar. (AM)

Discussion of two basic conceptions: Wilhelm von Humboldt's idea of language as energeia'' existing within and without man, and Noam Chomsky's idea of language generated by the speaker according to an innate apparatus. Revised version of lectures presented at the University of Bonn, West Germany in August 1971. (RS)

The author endeavors to penetrate the "mists o f mentalistic myth" which enshroud the "very real, solid, and substantial results of generative or transformational linguistics." In attempting to clarify and clear up misunderstandings about theories of grammar as put forth by Chomsky (whose practice, the author feels, is "superior to his description…

Tested a hypothesized relationship between rules of sentence transformation and preresponse processing time in a short-term memory and transformation task. Data showed that the amount of processing required by different grammatical transformations does not relate to the theoretical derivation. Available from Plenum Publishing Corp., 227 W. 17th…

The right roof constraint'' is the assumption that rightward-movement rules are always upward-bounded; see J.R. Ross' dissertation, Constraints on Variables in Syntax'' (MIT, 1967). (RS)

The contrasting views of Saussure and Bloomfield ("mentalist" versus "mechanist"), the hypotheses of Whorf showing the influence of language on certain habits of thought, and Chomsky's notion of generative transformational grammar in the context of language use are reviewed. The author notes the limits of these systems and suggests that in dealing…

Kuczaj challenged the hypotheses that young children construct utterances by applying transformation rules to an abstract underlying structure. It is contended that Kuczaj's alternative hypotheses do not account for Hurford's data, and some of Kuczaj's new evidence actually supports the Transformational Hypothesis. (SW)

Ideas or messages transmitted by language are not the same as grammatically determined meaning. (JH)

Suggests that the cognitive theory of language within the field of psycholinguistics, rather than a theory of linguistic description, should underlie language teaching materials. (DS)