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Can I read Aspects of the Theory of Syntax on EtoBox?
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax by Noam Chomsky is a philosophy book available to read on EtoBox.
What is Aspects of the Theory of Syntax about?
The idea that a language is based on a system of rules determining the interpretation of its infinitely many sentences is by no means novel. Well over a century ago, it was expressed with reasonable clarity by Wilhelm von Humboldt in his famous but rarely studied introduction to general linguistics (Humboldt, 1836). His view that a language "makes infinite use of finite means" and that its grammar must describe the processes that make this possible is, furthermore, an outgrowth of a persistent concern, within rationalistic philosophy of language and mind, with this "creative" aspect of language use (for discussion, see Chomsky, 1964, forthcoming). What is more, it seems that even Panini's grammar can be interpreted as a fragment of such a "generative grammar," in essentially the contemporary sense of this term. Nevertheless, within modern linguistics, it is chiefly within the last few years that fairly substantial attempts have been made to construct explicit generative grammars for particular languages and to explore their consequences. No great surprise should be occasioned by the extensive discussion and debate concerning the proper formulation of the theory of generative gramma
Who reads Aspects of the Theory of Syntax?
It is typically read by self-directed learners exploring a subject in depth.
Common subject areas: history, science, philosophy, social sciences.
- Author
- Noam Chomsky
- Publisher
- the MIT Press
- Published
- 1969
- Language
- EN
- ISBN
- 9780262530071
- Category
- philosophy
- Subjects
- Language Learning, Literary Fiction, Fiction
- Rating
- 3.91 / 5 (256 ratings)
- Updated
- 2026-03-14