The Transformational-Generative School: Its Foundations and Applications in Arabic Grammar

Abstract

It was only natural for a new linguistic school to arise from the ruins of Structuralism, and this was the Transformational-Generative school, which shifted the focus of linguistic research from mere description based on induction and justification of linguistic data to both description and explanation simultaneously; the Generativists focused on formulating universal rules applicable to all languages, which required relying on hypothetical models derived from logical and mathematical criteria—a shift that attracted many researchers and found its way into various cultures, with Arab culture being among the most prominent to adopt and apply this approach to the Arabic language starting in the early 1970s; hence, what are the primary characteristics that define the Transformational-Generative trend, and how can this approach be applied within Arabic linguistic culture?