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Generative Grammar's Grave Foundational Errors

Paul Martin Postal

"This work critically examines Noam Chomsky's widely accepted ontological assumptions-now referred to as "biolinguistics"-and demonstrates that they are internally inconsistent. Notably, Chomsky himself has, at least once, acknowledged this issue. Additionally, we challenge a fundamental claim from Chomsky's linguistic theories of the 1950s: that natural languages, particularly English, operate on constructive (proof-theoretic) grammars, also known as generative grammars. This assertion fails to account for numerous linguistic structures that fall outside its framework. Finally, we scrutinize Chomsky's frequent assertion that "there is essentially only one language on Earth," revealing it to be more rhetorical than substantive. By exposing these foundational flaws, this work calls for a reassessment of key aspects of Chomskyan linguistics"-- Provided by publisher.

GenresReferenceWords, Language & GrammarLinguistics

191 pages, 2 editions

Dutch edition · First published 2025 by Brill · ISBN 9789004730915

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Editions

2 editions

Dutch

  • Generative Grammar's Grave Foundational Errors · Brill · 2025 · ISBN 9789004730915 This page
  • Generative Grammar's Grave Foundational Errors · Brill · 2025 · ISBN 9789004730922

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