Syntactic Structures

Syntactic Structures

First edition
Author	Noam Chomsky
Language	English
Subject	Natural language syntax
Publisher	Mouton & Co.
Publication date	February 1957
Pages	117
Preceded by	The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory (unpublished mimeographed or microfilm version)
Followed by	Aspects of the Theory of Syntax

Syntactic Structures is a major work in linguistics by American linguist Noam Chomsky. It was first published in 1957. It introduced the idea of transformational generative grammar. This was an all-formal approach to syntax (the study of sentence structures). At its base, this method uses phrase structure rules. These rules break down sentences into smaller parts. Chomsky then combines these with a new kind of rules called "transformations". This procedure gives rise to different sentence structures. Using this method, Chomsky aimed to "generate" all grammatical sentences of a given language.

Syntactic Structures is Chomsky's first book. It is a short monograph of about a hundred pages. Chomsky wrote it for specialists in linguistics. He based it on the lecture notes he had prepared for his students at MIT. In it, he offered the now-famous sentence "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." This is a sentence with no clear meaning. Yet, grammar-wise it still seems instinctively correct to a native English speaker. For Chomsky, the study of syntax is thus independent of semantics (the study of meaning).

Chomsky wrote Syntactic Structures when he was still an unknown scholar. Mouton, a small Dutch publisher, released the book. Still, this dense technical work was well received in the beginning. It was even considered a welcome addition to the existing tradition of language study. Yet, established older linguists soon began criticizing it for its bold new views. Unlike them, younger linguists were eager to adopt Chomsky's way of doing research. And so linguistics changed course in the second half of the 20th century. It became normal to build more formal theories with syntax at their center. This way of study valued language's place in the mind over language behavior.