In the early 1970s Frederick Newmeyer helped to develop the model of generative semantics and since the 1980s he has published in the principles-and-parameters approach. In his 1983 book Grammatical Theory: Its Limits and its Possibilities, he was one of the first generativists to call attention to the ideas of the functionalist wing of the field. Since around 1990 he has developed a keen interest in the work of functional linguists and the question of whether their proposals are ultimately compatible with mainstream thinking in generative grammar. His book, Language Form and Language Function, published by MIT Press, is devoted to answering this question.
His writings include a number of works on history and sociology of recent linguistics: (1980) Linguistic Theory in America: The First Quarter-Century of Transformational Generative Grammar, (1986) The Politics of Linguistics, and (1996)Generative Linguistics: A Historical Perspective.
Author of the following papers featured on interdisciplines.org:
· Cognitive and Functional Factors in the Evolution of Grammar
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