A Minimalist Program for Linguistic Theory [Chomsky]

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1、CompiledbyXiongJianguo2004-6-3Page1Chapter1—AMinimalistProgramforLinguisticTheoryNoamChomsky1—SomeGeneralConsiderationsLanguageanditsusehavebeenstudiedfromvariedpointsofview.Oneapproach,assumedhere,takeslanguagetobepartofthenaturalworld.Thehumanbrainprovidesanarrayofcapacitiesthatenterintotheus

2、eandunderstandingoflanguage(thelanguagefaculty);theseseemtobeingoodpartspecializedforthatfunctionandacommonhumanendowmentoveraverywiderangeofcircumstancesandconditions.Onecomponentofthelanguagefacultyisagenerativeprocedure(anI-language,henceforthlanguage)thatgeneratesstructuraldescriptions(SDs)

3、,eachacomplexofproperties,includingthosecommonlycalled''semantic"and"phonetic."TheseSDsaretheexpressionsofthelanguage.Thetheoryofaparticularlanguageisitsgrammar.ThetheoryoflanguagesandtheexpressionstheygenerateisUniversalGrammar(UG);UGisatheoryoftheinitialstateSoftherelevantcomponentofthelangua

4、gefaculty.Wecandistinguishthelanguage0fromaconceptualsystemandasystemofpragmaticcompetence.Evidencehasbeenaccumulatingthattheseinteractingsystemscanbeselectivelyimpairedanddevelopmentallydissociated(Curtiss1981,Yamada1990,SmithandTsimpli1991),andtheirpropertiesarequitedifferent.Astandardassumpt

5、ionisthatUGspecifiescertainlinguisticlevels,eachasymbolicsystem,oftencalleda"representationalsystem."Eachlinguisticlevelprovidesthemeansforpresentingcertainsystematicinformationaboutlinguisticexpressions.Eachlinguisticexpression(SD)isasequenceofrepresentations,oneateachlinguisticlevel.Invariant

6、softheExtendedStandardTheory(EST),eachSDisasequence(d,s,p,l),representationsattheD-Structure,S-Structure,PhoneticForm(PF),andLogicalForm(LF)levels,respectively.Page2Somebasicpropertiesoflanguageareunusualamongbiologicalsystems,notablythepropertyofdiscreteinfinity.Aworkinghypothesisingenerativeg

7、rammarhasbeenthatlanguagesarebasedonsimpleprinciplesthatinteracttoformoftenintricatestructures,andthatthelanguagefacultyisnonredundant,inthatparticularphenomenaarenot''over-determined"byprinciplesoflanguage.Thesetooareunexpectedfe