Syntax


Generative Syntax


Generative Syntax was developed by Noam Chomsky in 1957 and has been elaborated both by Chomsky himself and by other linguists in the following decades. As a result of these various elaborations and changes different frameworks of generative syntax exist.
In this section of the syntax module we will introduce you to Government & Binding Theory, a framework of generative syntax that has been introduced by Chomsky in 1981. We will mainly concentrate on the assumptions linked to X-Bar Theory, which is one of the sub-theories formulated in Government & Binding and concerned with the representation of sentences as hierarchical structures in the form of tree diagrams.
For more detailed information on other sub-theories of Government & Binding, or for other frameworks of Generative Syntax please consult the module Syntactic Theory in the Selected Subfields section.


X-Bar Theory and Constituent Structure
Functional Categories: DP, IP, and CP



Exercises on Generative Syntax