A biography of generative grammar

"This monograph is an in-depth history of transformational Generative models of syntax, from Noam Chomsky's seminal Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory (1955) to current work in the 'Minimalist Program'. The primary objective of the book is to explicitly and clearly explain the changes that Generative syntax has undergone in this period, and how these changes relate not only to the internal dynamics of the Generative field, but also the relationship between the transformational Generative enterprise and other theories of natural and formal languages. Frequent comparisons between transformational Generative grammar and related theories (such as Lexical Functional Grammar, Relational Grammar, Generalised Phrase Structure Grammar, among others) put Generative grammar in historical perspective and make it easier to see what aspects of current theory are compatible with other formalisms and which are not. These inter-theoretical comparisons help the reader make connections with theoretical alternatives and situate the stages of Generative syntactic theory in their historical and methodological context.