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generative grammar

noun

, Linguistics.
  1. a linguistic theory that attempts to describe the tacit knowledge that a native speaker has of a language by establishing a set of explicit, formalized rules that specify or generate all the possible grammatical sentences of a language, while excluding all unacceptable sentences. Compare transformational grammar.
  2. a set of such rules.


generative grammar

noun

  1. a description of a language in terms of explicit rules that ideally generate all and only the grammatical sentences of the language Compare transformational grammar
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of generative grammar1

First recorded in 1955–60
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Example Sentences

To paraphrase the terminology of generative grammars, it was a limited war language, with not too many possible war sentences.

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