ABSTRACT
This concluding chapter of this book considers the findings for the general theory of grammar, and proposes hypotheses for further research. The book develops a theory of reference in definite and indefinite noun phrases, and explains a large number of article and modifier ungrammaticalities in terms of it. In this process, a generalisation which provides some insight into why semantics should have become increasingly relevant in grammaticality prediction within Transformational Generative Grammar, has been discovered. Semantic incompatibilities reduce to underlying oppositions in the form of a logical contradiction. Whenever the semantic conditions of application on the article rule are met, those of the modifier rule will not be, and vice versa. Furthermore, the earlier Autonomous Syntax of Chomsky's Standard Theory based on a Katz and Fodor semantic component, which is purely interpretive and in which semantic representation does not play any part in grammaticality prediction, is predicted by the semantic incompatibility argument to be incorrect.
