generative grammar
- noun
- /ˈdʒɛnərətɪv ˈɡræmər/
- Specialized
:
gramática generativa
- The theory of generative grammar explains how sentences are constructed in a language using specific rules.
Examples
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Linguists study generative grammar to understand how different languages create meaningful sentences.
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This is a rewriting system—what Noam Chomsky calls a generative grammar.
Blog text (32) -
And some of the more particular topics of discussion are generative grammar, universal grammar.
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Proponents of nonciation set great store by the speaker's viewpoint with respect to what he or she is saying and by intersubjective relations (as with pragmatics but unlike generative grammar).
Academic text (2004) -
According to Chomsky, generative grammar provides a framework for analyzing the syntactic structure of languages.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'generative' (capable of producing) with 'grammar' (rules/structure), so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it refers to a kind of grammar that produces or generates sentences. However, as a technical term for a formal linguistic theory, the precise theoretical nuance (rule systems, formal generation of all grammatical sentences) is not fully predictable from the words alone for a B1 learner.
Etymology
The term generative grammar comes from the idea that generative means 'to make' and grammar means the 'rules' of a language. Think of it like a recipe that uses those rules to 'make' many correct sentences. That's why the phrase means rules that can 'create' all the sentences in a language.
