ABSTRACT
The question 'Do we understand ungrammatical strings by the application of linguistic competence?' is asked by Levin in the form 'Can we fix the grammar so that it will generate observed yet intuitively ungrammatical sentences?' From his and Thorne's discussion it would seem that the grammar does not explicate ungrammatical strings. This is evident from the lack of mechanical success of such rules as
(I) N-+did (he danced his did) (2) NP-+did (he danced his did) (3) Nperiod of time -+ Nstate of mind (a grief ago)
which either generate thousands of unwanted sentences ((I) the did was late, (2) sing was late, (3) four happinesses ago), or, to prevent such 'overgeneration' (Levin's term), require restrictions so complex as to make the grammar fail the criterion of simplicity. Another reason for believing that we do not understand he danced his did by referring to a rule (say, (I) above) which is part of our linguistic competence in the same way that, for example, the rules Pron.-+he, N-+lunch are, is that this explanation does not acknowledge our feeling that he ate his lunch is grammatical whereas he danced his did is not. Chomsky mentions that a 'well-chosen deviant utterance may be richer and more effective' ((1961),234); a fact that every schoolboy poet knows. The richness lies in the demand the deviation makes on one's interpretative ingenuity to recognize its own ingeniousness, to (for example) hold two structures, or formatives (as with puns), in mind simultaneously. 'Imposing an interpretation' on a deviant utterance is a quite different process from interpreting a grammatical sentence. It requires supplementing one's grammatical competence with a performance skill. Adopting Katz's term, let us say that a year ago is in the 'comprehension set' ((1964), 4II ff.) for a grief ago; any explanation of our response to a grief ago must acknowledge that we (a) understand grief in this context; AND (b) understand it by its relation with year. Likewise with he danced his did : a rule N -+did carries only the information appropriate to N -+lunch, cat, house, string, etc. What is immediately peculiar about he danced his did is the conflict of the nonce-rule N -+did and the grammatical rule V-+did.
