La grammaire générative

The article begins by giving some information on the origin of generative grammar in Italy and its academic development, referring to the general features of this linguistic theory as well. Stress is placed on the research conducted within this framework by Italian linguists working in Italy over the last quarter of century. As will be seen, an important part of this research concerns Italian and Italian dialects, but also other languages, ancient and modern, and theoretical problems have been the topic of many works: these works are not limited to the description of a language (or several languages) made using the techniques of generative grammar, but always intended to provide a contribution to so-called “Universal Grammar”. This general theoretical goal also characterized the seemingly more “applicative” research, such as psycho- or neurolinguistics, which is approached in the final section of this article.