Razlike u strukturi latinskog i francuskog jezika prema postulatima generativne gramatike / Differences in the Structure of Latin and French According to the Postulates of Generative Grammar

Abstract

Generative (grammar) means precisely formulated, explicit grammar. American linguist A. N. Chomsky strove for such a maximally precise, universal grammar. He bases the foundation for his thoughts on the possibility of the existence of a universal grammar on his own belief that the ability for language is inherent in human beings, i.e., that the grammatical structure not only of our own language, but of language in general, is engrained in our minds. This syntactician is interested not only in the definition and analysis of the sentence structure, but also in the inherent relation between grammar and logic. Chomsky’s starting point is that it is possible, within the confines of one language, to form an infinite number of statements using a finite number of words (Glovacki-Bernardi, et al., 2007, p. 190.); while doing so, the focus is on grammatically correct, meaningful statements, as in the opposite situation, grammatical rules which point to the logical relationship within them would lose their meaning. This is, at the same time, one of the foundations of his generative theory. Chomsky confirmed a set of rules through which he attempted to place grammar into a universal framework within which every language can find the laws ruling its own logical grammatical functioning. In applying these laws, it is possible to form paradigms which will serve as indicators of structural differences and similarities between languages, which we will demonstrate in this paper using examples from French and Latin.