The Kuhnian Aspects of the Chomskyan Scientific Paradigm

Abstract

This paper analyzes Chomsky's system of grammatical description seeking elements that might prove that his approach, started in 1957 with the publication of Syntactic Structures, actually marked a scientific "leap" in the sense that Thomas Kuhn described 'a scientific revolution'. The author considers the latest, level-free, developments in Chomsky's theory as similar to his earlier work and analyzes the internal structure of his theory up to the appearance of the Government and Binding approach.

Keywords: Chomsky, Kuhn, transformational-generative grammar, scientific revolution, paradigm, empiricism, rationalism