The aim of this collection of Noam Chomsky's writings over the past 12 years is to present the main outlines of transformational theory, using as far as possible Chomsky's own words, but arranged in such a way that a non-specialist will have no difficulty in following the text. The topics covered include syntax, phonology, semantics, and language…

In the current debate about the development of language in children, the author agrees with those psycholinguists who emphasize the role of "imitation followed by analogical extension." That is to say, that if there are inborn discovery procedures for the acquisition of language, they are distributional rather than transformational in nature. On…

A report on a study in progress of the acquisition of a syntax rule: inversion in questions beginning with "Wh..". Its purpose is to show how certain modifications of linguistic theory and practice can contribute to this study and to psychology of language in general. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

The (Roger A.) McCaig article appeared in Elementary English," vol. 47, no. 5 (May 1970), pp. 612-18: How Not To Analyze the Syntax of Children"; it was critical of a study in which the author was a co-investigator ( Syntax of Kindergarten and Elementary School Children: A Transformational Analysis," 1967). (RD)

THE AUTHOR FEELS THAT TO APPROACH CHILD LANGUAGE TRANSFORMATIONALLY IS TO USE A TECHNIQUE SUITED TO PROVIDING ADDITIONAL INSIGHT INTO A WELL-KNOWN LANGUAGE FOR TREATING AN UNKNOWN, OR AT BEST LITTLE KNOWN LANGUAGE. SHE MAKES THE FOLLOWING CRITICISMS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL ANALYSIS OF CHILD LANGUAGE--(1) NOTHING CAN BE DIRECTLY INFERRED WITH REGARD TO…

The relationships between a child's perceptual space and the acquisition of language are discussed in light of the work of Clark, Fillmore, and Chafe. Early language is analyzed as a semantic structure where linguistic ties are established between semantic features and inherent and relational perceptual features. Of these, it is the relational…

This article clarifies the position taken in the Greenfield and Smith book (1976), including relation to speech act theory, and elucidates some general theoretical issues in early language development. (Author/NCR)

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)

This article reviews and criticizes Fay's particular transformational descriptions as implausible. (Author/NCR)

This Outline is designed for students of the English language who have progressed beyond the introductory stage and are confronted by a variety of often conflicting texts. It is an attempt to provide a "comprehensive account of the fundamental coherence to be found among the major theories of linguistics" and an "appraisal of the cultural lags…

This article presents a non-technical discussion of the way in which modern transformational generative linguistics can help in understanding the reading process. (FB)

The discussion throughout this paper is devoted to answering the question: What is the nature of our knowledge of language and what theoretical assumptions does the answer entail for linguistic description? Discussed are--(1) what it means to know a language, (2) the distinction between linguistic competence and performance, (3) justification of…