---
title: "Syntactic Structures"
authors:
  - "Noam Chomsky"
year: 1957
venue: "Mouton"
arxiv: null
doi: "10.1515/9783112316009"
source: "https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112316009"
topics:
  - linguistics
  - chomsky
  - generative-grammar
seed_rank: 600
seed_batch: "foundations-greats-2026-08-13"
reviewed: "2026-08-13"
pool: "languages"
relevance_score: 9
lineage: foundations-of-computing
cites:
  - title: "Three Models for the Description of Language"
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1109/TIT.1956.1056813"
    year: 1956
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.1109/TIT.1956.1056813"
  - title: "On Certain Formal Properties of Grammars"
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-9958(59)90362-6"
    year: 1959
    arxiv: null
    doi: "10.1016/S0019-9958(59)90362-6"
see:
  - "599-three-models-for-the-description-of-language"
  - "601-on-certain-formal-properties-of-grammars"
---

# Syntactic Structures

## One-sentence takeaway

Chomsky's 1957 monograph launches generative grammar: a language is the set of sentences a finite rule system generates, not a corpus of habits.

## Why it matters here

Formal language theory, compiler front ends, and cognitive claims about "what a grammar is" all feed through this Mouton book.

## Key ideas

- Phrase-structure rules generate kernel sentences; optional transformations produce passives, questions, and related forms.
- Adequacy is measured against native-speaker judgments of grammaticality, not against Shannon-style letter prediction.
- Behaviorist accounts (notably Skinner) are rejected: syntax is a generative competence, not a stimulus–response chain.
- Original: Mouton, The Hague, 1957, Janua Linguarum Series Minor 4. De Gruyter DOI 10.1515/9783112316009 is the stable digital reprint.
- The 1956 IRE paper is the technical preview; the 1959 "Formal Properties" paper axiomatizes the hierarchy.

## Caveats

## Links

- DOI: [10.1515/9783112316009](https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112316009)
- URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112316009