This study aims to assess the evidence regarding the relationship between previous and new schools of linguistics. According to Kuhn (1970), old linguistic paradigms incorporate vocabulary and apparatus from previous or traditional paradigms. In particular, this review addresses the Question: Do new paradigms in linguistic arise from old or…

Formal theories of mental representation have receded from the importance they had in the early days of cognitive science. I argue that such theories are crucial in any mental domain, not just for their own sake, but to guide experimental inquiry, as well as to integrate the domain into the mind as a whole. To illustrate the criteria of adequacy…

The extensive literature on subject expression in Spanish makes for rich comparisons between generative (formal) and usage-based (functional) approaches to language acquisition. This article explores how the problem of subject expression has been conceptualized within each research tradition, as well as unanswered questions that both approaches…

Detailed version of a speech at the third Congress on Computational Linguistics in Stockholm, Sweden, September 1969. (VM)

Proposes a theory, based on transformational grammar, that categorizes French reflexive pronouns as being either "free" or "bound," and attempts to apply this theory to Latin reflexive pronouns. (AM)

Original version of this paper presented at Indiana University, Bloomington, on February 7, 1972. (VM)

Chafe's theory of generative semantics, which uses spoken language for illustration, can be applied to American Sign Language in two ways: to combat the erroneous assumption that sign languages simply represent spoken language in visible form and to explain various parts of the grammar of American Sign Language. (MSE)

This paper examines the tacit assumptions behind different theories about the nature of language and aphasia, and it discusses critically the use of structural and generative linguistic theories to explain the behavior of aphasics, especially with regard to the difference between spoken and written discourse. It is proposed that, rather than try…

Strengths and weaknesses of generative grammar are examined by an apologist for the traditionalists. Criticism is directed toward difficulties encountered by the layman in comprehending texts on linguistic theories, linguists' use of jargon and pet formulas, and unwieldy amounts of terminology constantly being developed. Special attention is…

The inadequacies of traditional and transformational models of grammar are overcome in the systemic-functional approach of Halliday, where meaning is built into the grammar and the text is the basic unit. Here, the functional approach is seen in the stress on the role of social/cultural context and in the importance of the role of register, which…

The authors respond to Dresher and Hornstein's article (EJ 161 384, Cognition, December, 1976) on artificial intelligence (AI). The dispute between linguistic theorists and AI researchers is based upon their different aims; while AI researchers develop programs capable of intelligent behavior, transformational linguists study the characteristics…

The author aims: (1) to show that generative phonology uses essentially the method of internal reconstruction which has previously been employed only in diachronic studies in setting up synchronic underlying phonological representations; (2) to show why synchronic analysis should add the comparative method to its arsenal, together with whatever…

This paper examines the semantic and structural characteristics of a basic pattern in English and discusses Spanish equivalents. A sentence-by-sentence analysis is made with consideration of transformations on the basic patterns in both languages. Translation and transformation complications in the two languages are illustrated. The equivalence…

A discussion of passives in the context of generalized phrase structure grammar (GPSG) looks at two problems associated with a lexical rule that derives passive participles from active verbs. The first occurs with sentences whose main verb takes an NP and does not have a passive counterpart. This situation requires a more restrictive metarule, and…

THIS STUDY WAS MADE IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISCOVER HOW MUCH ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULATION IS NECESSARY FOR NORMAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN. THROUGH ANALYSIS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMER, THE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES OF TWENTY 5-YEAR-OLD CULTURALLY DEPRIVED NEGRO CHILDREN IN BALTIMORE WERE COMPARED TO THOSE OF A GROUP OF MIDDLE CLASS WHITE NURSERY SCHOOL…