Linguistics: Generativism

There have been many approaches to the linguistic study of a language. One of these approaches falls under the rubric of “generativism” or “generative grammar.” Other labels include “transformational grammar,” “government and binding theory,” “principles and parameters approach,” and the “minimalist program,” each one reflecting the evolution of the study of linguistic structure over time.

It is important to understand the main concepts underlying generative approaches, because they have driven much of the early research on sign languages in the 1970s and 1980s and continue to inform some of the ongoing research on sign languages. Note that while Stokoe (1960) was the among the first to carry out research on American Sign Language (ASL), which occured roughly around the same time as the emergence of generative approaches, Stokoe did not necessarily follow this framework. Rather, this framework was assumed by later researchers such as Fischer (1975), Liddell (1977), other contributors to the volume compiled by Klima and Bellugi (1979), as well as Lillo-Martin (1987), Sandler (1989), and Neidle et al. (2000), to name a few.

Such generative approaches began with the publication of Syntactic Structures by Noam Chomsky in 1957. Prior to the publication of this book, there were two dominant trends in linguistics. One was structuralism, under which the goal is to document as many details about each language as possible (Bloomfield, Sapir). Another trend was behaviorism (Skinner), which held that a child started with a clean slate in her brain and learned a language through practice; i.e., language learning was viewed as part of human behavior.

Chomsky challenged these views by noting the “poverty of stimulus” problem. It is not possible for children to learn linguistic rules through data that they hear or see from their caretakers, family, and other members of the surrounding community. Yet, children manage to acquire the correct grammars for their native languages. This led Chomsky to raise several key questions about language, which have guided studies under the “generative” approach:

• a.
  What is it that we know, when we know a language?
• b.
  How is this knowledge acquired?
• c.
  How is this knowledge put to use?
• d.
  What is the physical basis, in neural mechanisms, for the systems of knowledge and use of language?

[Page 607]In response to these questions, the generative approach makes several fundamental assumptions. First is the concept of a “universal grammar.” The main idea is that the underlying structure of all human languages is the same. While each language appears to look very different, primarily due to different vocabulary and different sounds, when one looks deeper at their structure, one can find common properties across all languages.

A second fundamental assumption of the generative approach is the innateness of universal grammar. That is, children are born with the principles of universal grammar hardwired into their brain. These principles in turn make it possible for children to acquire the rules that are specific to their language. This brings us to the third fundamental assumption of the generative approach, that there is a “language acquisition device” which makes it possible for children to acquire a complex language with the help of an innate universal grammar.

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