ABSTRACT
W hat is it that people know when they speak and understand sentences in theirnative language? Linguistics is the science that aims to explore and reveal thisknowledge. The prime change that the Chomskyan revolution brought, Generative Linguistics (Chomsky, 1957, 1965, 1981, 1986b, 1995), was to shift the focus from normative sets of rules according to which people should speak to the description of the native speaker’s intuitive knowledge of language. The generative linguist conceives of grammar as a set of rules that reflects native speakers’ competence to utter or understand sentences in their language. Viewed from this perspective, the linguistic theory seeks to address four major questions (the first three are adapted from Chomsky, 1986b):
1. What constitutes knowledge of language? 2. How is knowledge of language acquired? 3. How is knowledge of language put to use? 4. How does language break down?
