[B-Greek] B-Greek syntax trees and phrase structure rules

James Tauber jtauber at jtauber.com
Sat Aug 12 02:46:19 EDT 2006


On 12/08/2006, at 1:08 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:

>
> On Aug 11, 2006, at 9:44 PM, James Tauber wrote:
>
>> One thing to note with the Chomskyan programme is that the
>> focus is on what languages tell us about language not what language
>> tells us about languages and so the application of Chomskyan models
>> to understanding of specific texts is dubious, even to to Chomskyans.
>
> I would tend to agree with this statement but I think that there were
> spinoffs from early generative/transformational models that were
> applied to understanding texts, for example some of E.A. Nida's
> translation theory was, if I am not mistaken, influenced by early
> transformational thought.

Spinoffs from early models, definitely. But most early spinoffs that  
survived have since developed into frameworks (e.g. Cognitive  
Linguistics) that are generally (and sometimes vehemently) anti- 
Chomskyan. My statement was more about recent (i.e. last 25 years)  
Chomskyan theory which is why I asked the question what era of  
transformational grammar Jason was interested in (although his  
mention of phrase structure rules and use of the term  
"transformational grammar" suggests he's talking about the older stuff)

> I don't think you would have to look very
> hard to find others in applied linguistics (e.g. bible translators)
> who make some use of Chomsky (early middle or late).

Well, I certainly don't deny it gets used. Outside of theoretical  
linguistics, though, most Chomsky references I've seen have tended to  
be highly anachronistic (I recently attended a conference where the  
latest Chomsky I saw cited was Aspects) although I'd be interested  
(and possibly pleasantly surprised) to see how people are using  
recent Chomsky (i.e. Minimalism) in NT-related work.

James Tauber




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