Generative Approach : Chomsky And Computer Science

Because of this, they are less concerned about prescribing rules to be followed since the language is going to change anyway. To descriptivists, it seems rather pointless. However, Garner refutes this stance by describing an earthquake. In the grand scheme of everything, a single earthquake hardly amounts to anything. Millions of other natural disasters happen every day in every continent of the earth. What makes that earthquake special? Compared to the rest of the world, it means nothing. But to the people living in the city where the earthquake struck, it means everything. So it is with grammar. One cannot simply say that good grammar and usage does not matter in the grand scheme of things. It matters to the people who are speaking the language right now! Garner argues that the majority of English-speakers have no concern over where their language is headed but are more concerned with correct usage and proper grammar. Garner also points out another issue which refutes the describers belief that language is one of instinct, not of choice. Garner quotes MIT graduate, Steven Pinker, who relates language to the song of the humpback whale. Pinker criticizes the prescriptivists in their stringent rules that confine individuals to make what he believes to be unnecessary choices because he believes that

Every language has a grammar: a set of patterns and rules that we learn to use when we're reading.

The aim of having correct grammar is to ensure what is written is correctly understood. A sentence that contains grammatical errors can be difficult to read and can cause misunderstandings. It is important to use correct grammar whether writing or speaking to communicate effectively to help people get a better understanding and to express your communication more precisely and clearly.

Part of being human is to be ambiguous and unclear about our ways. We don’t tend to follow a pattern, an algorithm that computers depend on to perform their tasks. Language making, for example, is a process that comprises of unusual twists and turns. Thomas argues it would be problematic for a computer to create or expand on a language as we see it today, for it would have to “make the necessary mistakes we humans make…as we build our kinds of language” [Thomas, 84]. Computers were never programmed to make human errors; in fact, they are programmed to counter those exact problems. Our language used today has undergone changes to make it “real

The linguistic theory of Chomsky has changed the long, traditional way of studying language. The nature of knowledge, which is closely tied to human knowledge in general, makes it a logical step for Chomsky to generalize his theory to the study of the relation between language and the world-in particular, the study of truth and reference. But his theory has been controversial and his proposal of "innate ideas" has been resisted by some empiricists who characterize him as rationalist. In our view, these empiricists make a mistake. In the present paper we attend to his position regarding linguistics as a science of mind/brain, which we believe is an important aspect of his theory that has not been paid enough attention or understood by

Furthermore, it is apparent that English syntax, or the study of sentence structures is synonymous with much of the study of English grammar; Syntax in a reductive explanation is the study of sentence structure (Finegan, 2015, p. 178). In chapter 1 of Curzan (2003), theoretically, the evolution of English has eliminated its use of grammatical gender and this has

There’s many reasons in how grammar can lead to success and one of them is in school. Obviously you’ll need grammar in order to academically achieve. For example like your lab reports, essays, poems, summaries, and etc. Your overall grade in your classes

Using grammar, differentiating words like ‘to’ and ‘two’ or ‘right’ and ‘write’ is possible. Grammar is also used to speed up a speech recognition system by narrowing the range of the search (6,p.98). Grammar also increases the performance of a speech recognition system by eliminating inappropriate word sequencing. However, grammar doesn’t allow random dictation which is a problem for some applications (6, p.98).

Some linguistic models try to explain the development of second language acquisition. The three most common models are (1) the Universal Grammar Model, (2) the Competition Model, and (3) the Monitor Model. The Universal Grammar Model refers to the system of principles, conditions, and rules that are properties or elements of all human languages. At the same time, each language has grammatical rules that vary from one language to another. Thus, Chomky states that different languages have a limited possibility of different grammatical structures (1975). Therefore, second language learners base their second language acquisition on universal principles common to all languages, and on the force of the particular rules of each language. All of those can be concluded that as a human, especially as children, we have vary form of rules in language, in this case is second language.

It is not uncommon to say that grammar instruction plays an important role in language teaching. Regarding the status and importance of grammar teaching, a variety of opinions have been made. Batstone (1994) states that “language without grammar would be chaotic: countless words without the indispensable guidelines for how they can be ordered and modified” (p. 4). More vividly, Wang (2010) makes two similes. She compares grammar to the frame of a house, which is a decisive factor to ensure the solidness of it. Additionally, she regards grammar as a walking stick, whose function is to help and support students to learn English. Thus, the nature of grammar instruction manifests its own significance as it helps students

The study of grammar all by itself would not necessarily make the learner a better writer or speaker. However, by gaining a clearer understanding of how the language works, the learner should be able to gain greater control over the way he shapes words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs. In short, studying grammar may help learners to perceive the structures of the language effectively.

Grammar is a general word used to describe the system of rules of a language; it helps people to use an appropriate language structure. One of the primary elements of grammar is syntax which studies the order of words in a sentence as it is stated by Emanuel del Mar (2004) ”rules and principles of any individual language”. The syntax analysis can enclose the grammatical constructions of relatively simple clauses and complex ones.

Grammar has always been an important issue in second and foreign language learning and teaching. Some hold the view that grammar is not essential for second/foreign language learning and therefore have a ‘zero position’ regarding grammar teaching. On the other hand, some view that grammar is necessary for second/foreign language learning.

He seeks to find underlying similarities across these “distinct” languages, to construct a general theory of a singular language. However, it seems as though he cannot be scientifically vindicated without the groundwork being laid down by many of the authors that he is critical of. Thus, it is particularly interesting that Chomsky seems to be so at odds with the idea of descriptivism. When Chomsky says, “Grammar should not be merely a record of the data of usage, but, rather, should offer an explanation for such data,” (587) he is acknowledging the usefulness, presumably to his own theories, of descriptive linguistics. He in fact recognizes the debt he owes when he says, “To me, it seems that [structural linguistics'] major achievement is to have provided a factual and a methodological basis that makes it possible to return to the problems that occupied the traditional universal grammarians...” (590) But he goes on to say, “On the other hand, it seems to me that the substantive contributions to the theory of language structure are few, and that, to a large extent, the concepts of modern linguistics constitute a retrogression as compared with universal grammar.” (590) Where the descriptivists see an end, Chomsky sees only the means, and is somewhat dismissive of them.

In order to learn a foreign language, you need to study its grammar, the structural rules of a language. Most of the time, grammar is a complicated subject to understand, to learn, and to use correctly. To make things even more complicated, you will need to memorize the exceptions to the grammar rules you learn.