المُعجَم في المَدرَسةِ التّوليديّة- المفهوم والوظيفة

The Lexicon in the Generative Theory: the Concept and Function

There is something one can learn from Chomsky’s scientific career that thing which he used to mention in his writings and lectures, that is the desire in astonishment, what kind of inquiries for something normal and routine that astonishment which lead me with boldness to reviewing the generative theory from the lexicon perspective rather than grammar. Studying lexicon is considered a pivotal subject in the linguistic field in terms of the significant prestige that it occupies in building a net of the communicative relations among all the components that the modern linguistic lesson is busy to develop. To my humble knowledge, the previous studies did not tackle the same subject exactly but only some separated parts here and there.
The aim of the current study is implied in a number of intentions as observing the theoretical transformations that the generative grammar theory knew since its establishment up to the last model in it which is the model known as the minimalist program and to stand on the transformational factors, its causes and the trespass or inclusion of the transformational generative theory from one phase into another. That means from establishment into the last model known in this theory the minimalist program in terms of the lexicon rather than grammar and to state the lexicon path and its development.
The research plan was limited by a preface entitled ‘ the lexicon, concept and features’ has four sections about the lexicon and its concept to the traditionalists, contemporaries, and the generativists, and finally the lexicon concept in the linguistic schools pre and post generativist. This followed by the study chapters with three directions.
The first chapter was about the lexicon view about the theory and then, concepts and terminologies of the generative theory lexiconally. The second chapter was about the lexicon fields that it appears on and is referred to as the generative theory. The third chapter included the lexicon and represented grammar in the generative hypotheses, and the most important ones are x bar, pivot, working, and the componential control.
The study ends with a list of the most important results as:
-The concept of lexicon can be expressed generatively by a group of stored units in the mind of the human; these expressions that appear in his linguistic use when he communicate with his linguistic community. These are units that were put in the individuals’ minds with a very complex image.
-The generativism stated that lexicon has two phases, the first is mental and the second is technical. The technical phase appears in the linguistic knowledge in the imagery models framework that linguistics build and develop by modifying and adopting them with the natural language systems or with computers programs. This remoteness approaches the lexicon to fields working to invest knowledge practically and explicitly.
-One of the most important terms that Chomsky presented is the deep structure opposite to the surface structure, competence opposite to performance, and the deep structure (mental images) of the event and what produce as lexicon units, the competence is a mental storage the speaker possesses that control his linguistic behavour represented by performance. these connect with the generativism term in constructing a mental linguistic common model between the sender and the receiver to perform language in the sound linguistic perspective or principles.
-The significance of lexicon emerged through representing its components into important grammatical hypotheses of the generative theory such as the x bar, pivot, working. Thus, in x bar theory, the head saying which is lexicon saying emerged in the x bar, while the location that the head took and its function of the lexicon unit, its grammatical function, working theory, and the componential governing that control, as well the lexicon element on other elements through several concepts where the influence concept was the most important one. The study ended with a list of the most important references and bibliographies.