Le test en grammaire générative. L'exemple de la structure de la phrase
Danièle Godard · Histoire Épistémologie Langage · 1991
ABSTRACT : The word « test » is used in two different ways by generative grammarians : first, it denotes the process by which one checks the adequacy between the hypothesis and the data (adequacy test) ; second, it denotes the process by which, on the basis of previous results, one compares the properties of the sequence under study with those which define a certain category (test-criterion). Taking the sentence structure as an example, we will show how the requirement of adequacy together with the exigency of generalization lead the researchers to modify their analysis. Comparing analyses cast in the generative transformational grammar with analyses cast in non-transformational generative grammars, we observe that, while some proposals are dependent upon the model, others are valid across different models and, thus, have good chances to represent properties of the linguistic structure. Finally, it appears that the tests-criteria do not always lead to clear results : some are based on necessary and sufficient properties, others on tendencies of a given linguistic category.