// Вісник Київського лінгвістичного університету. Сер. Філологія. -
2001 г., т. 4, №1, стр. 74-85.
This paper is another attempt at reviewing the 20th century
achievements in linguistic science. Following Prof. R.Robins
approach, we assume that it was the structuralist and generative
paradigms that provided the core theoretical models for language
study in the century that has passed. Noam Chomsky’s contribution
to syntactic studies, among others, is considered to be unique.
Making sentence the focus of grammar theory, introducing formal
mechanisms adequate to describe a vast complexity of natural
languages took him to the forefront of the history of linguistics.
50 years of the generative paradigm domination is regarded in the
context of its historical predecessors, the rationalist approach in
the first place.