The Vicissitudes of War

Abstract

This chapter charts the battles around the central notions of the Generative/Interpretive Semantics dispute: the existence of Deep Structure (rejected by Generative Semantics, redefined by Interpretive Semantics), the Katz-Postal Principle (rejected by both, in different ways), the notion of grammaticality (distended by Generative Semantics into contingencies and gradations, then rejected; retained by Interpretive Semantics). It also examines the rhetorical maneuvers around George Lakoff’s proposal of global rules (embraced as unfortunately inevitable by Generative Semantics, terminologically rejected but methodologically embraced by Interpretive Semantics). The chapter also documents some of the direct firefights and skirmishes across the Transformational Grammar battlefield, which left Generative Semantics in a position of clear ascendancy.