The Post Aspect Theory
The theory of TRANSFORMATIONAL GENERATIVE GRAMMAR has been introduced by Noam Chomsky in two basic versions. The first of these versions is Chomsky s ( SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES) in 1965 while the second one is his ( ASPECTS OF THE THEORY OF SYNTAX ) in (1975).The latter is also called THE STANDARD THEORY. The generative component in the two versions is THE SYNTACTIC COMPONENT. The semantic component is only an interpretative one. After the version of ASPECTS OF THE THEORY OF SYNTAX , many theories have been introduced to bridge the gaps in the TGG theory through various modifications. They include theories such as CASE GRAMMAR , RELATIONAL GRAMMAR , GENERALIZED PHRASE STRUCTURE GRAMMAR , FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR , X-BAR THEORY and the like. Some of these theories attempt to give the semantic component a greater generative role than the syntactic component. This is clearly manifested in the CASE GRAMMAR THEORY by Charles Fillmore and THE GENERATIVE SEMANTICS theories produced by several American linguists like Lakoff , McCawley, Postal, and Ross.
Case Grammar
This kind of grammar falls within the general orientation of Generative Grammar. It stresses the importance of the semantic roles and relationships played by the elements of sentence structure. Each of these roles or relationships is called a CASE. This term is used here because its use is similar to that in TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR. The original version of the theory proposes six cases for the NOUN: agentive , instrumental , dative , factitive , locative , and objective. These case remain the same no matter how the surface structure of the sentence is. For example , the cases of the nouns ( man , key , door ) are AGENTIVE ,INSTRUMENTAL , OBJECTIVE respectively in each of the following sentences:
The man opened the door with a key.
The door was opened by the man with a key.
Later , other cases , like ( source , goal , counter –agent , etc ) have been suggested.
Generative Semantics
It refers to a school of thought which falls within the generative linguistic theory produced by several American linguists like Lakoff , McCawley , Postal , and Ross in the early 1970s. Contrary to Chomsky s STANDARD THEORY in which the syntactic component is the generative one, in Generative Semantics , the semantic component is the generative one while the syntactic component is only an interpretative one. Thus, when someone wants to talk , s/he first arranges the ideas semantically in his mind. Then , these ideas are put in the form of sentences according to the rules of grammar which are applied by the syntactic component. Finally , those ideas which have been put in the form of sentences are actualized in the form of sounds after subjecting them to the phonological rules in the phonological component.