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definitions

generative semantics

noun (used with a singular verb) Linguistics.

a theory of generative grammar holding that the deep structure of a sentence is equivalent to its semantic representation, from which the surface structure can then be derived using only one set of rules that relate underlying meaning and surface form rather than separate sets of semantic and syntactic rules.

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Nearby words

  1. generational,
  2. generative,
  3. generative cell,
  4. generative grammar,
  5. generative phonology,
  6. generative-transformational grammar,
  7. generatively,
  8. generativist,
  9. generator,
  10. generatrix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for generative semantics

generative semantics

noun

(functioning as singular) a school of semantic theory based on the doctrine that syntactic and semantic structure are of the same formal nature and that there is a single system of rules that relates surface structure to meaningCompare interpretive semantics
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