Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 1988

Linguistics, Technical Writing, and Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar

R. Allen Harris Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

Linguistics has been largely misunderstood in writing pedagogy. After Chomsky's revolution, it was widely touted as a panacea; now it is widely flogged as a pariah. Both attitudes are extreme. It has a number of applications in the writing classroom, and it is particularly ripe for technical writing students, who have more sophistication with formalism than their humanities counterparts. Moreover, although few scholars outside of linguistics are aware of it, Transformational Grammar is virtually obsolete; most grammatical models are organized around principled aversions to the transformation, and even Chomsky has little use for his most famous innovation these days. Among the more recent developments is Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar, a model with distinct formal and pedagogical advantages over Chomsky's early transformational work.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1988-07-01
DOI
10.2190/wtlt-qky6-lw4v-w2bd
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy rhetorical theory writing across the curriculum multimodality technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Connor (1994)
    Research on Technical and Scientific Communication in Canada: A Bibliographical…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Harris (1991)
    A Do-it-Yourself Usability Kit
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Ferguson et al. (1990)
    Grammar and Technical Writing
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Harris (1988)
    Bakhtin,<i>Phaedrus,</i>and the geometry of rhetoric
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Williams et al. (1985)
    Four Comments on "Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar"
    College English
  3. Elgin (1978)
    Don't No Revolutions Hardly Ever Come by Here
    College English
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.2307/355206
     ↗
  2. 10.2307/356730
     ↗
  3. Newmeyer F. J. (1986)
    Linguistic Theory in America, 2nd Edition
     ↗
  4. 10.1007/978-94-009-7707-5_5
     ↗
  5. 10.1007/BF00630918
     ↗
  6. 10.1007/BF00630917
     ↗
  7. 10.1016/0020-0255(73)90027-3
     ↗
  8. 10.2307/376562
     ↗
  9. 10.2307/375699
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network →

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