| This dissertation explores the problem of continuity and discontinuity between Post-Bloomfieldian linguists and generativists, preeminently Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle, in an attempt to test some of the theses implied in Kuhn's paradigmatic theory of science. The background of generative linguistics in the work of the Post-Bloomfieldians such as Hockett and Householder reveals continuity at the methodological level but discontinuity in terms of the specifics of linguistc theory. Contrary to Newmeyer's claims, I argue that the Post-Bloomfieldians provided a conceptual-methodological foundation on which the program of generative linguistics was built. Both groups of linguists held to the values of simplicity and predictive power in deciding between alternative theories. Hockett also argued for the development of item-and-process models of linguistic description at the time Chomsky began to employ such models as a descriptive framework.;There have also been significant shifts in the theory and practice of linguistics as a result of the generative program. One of the most important has been what Hockett termed Chomsky's accountability hypothesis, the responsibility of any description to meet certain predetermined criteria of a general theory. While it may be possible to apply the term revolution to this transition in American linguistics, the Kuhnian connotations of that term do not apply. The generative program was not born of clearly perceived empirical anomalies in Post-Bloomfieldian theory; nor has there been a Gestalt-switch. Acceptance or rejection of the generative program was never in toto. The impact of the generative program, while changing the core of phonology and syntax, has left whole areas of the discipline untouched. |
