Abstract

In Chomsky’s view, linguistics is about a psychological state, the speaker’s knowledge of language which constitutes her linguistic competence. This knowledge is said to underlie her linguistic intuitions. The rules of the language are thought to be “psychologically real” in that they are represented — the Representational Thesis — or otherwise embodied in the language faculty. This book’s plan is described, which is to look critically at these views and propose others. The chapter concludes with some clarifications of the book’s relation to I-languages, to grammatical levels and to linguistic details; and of the importance of its conclusions.