Chapter 1: Introduction

Abstract

From text: If one were to provide a native speaker of a particular language with a list of possible sentences containing a negative, this native speaker would be able to tell which, according to his/her tacit knowledge of the language, are grammatically well-formed and which are not. This native speaker, if he/she were English speaking, would be able to tell that a sentence like “Mary reads the book not” is not an acceptable sentence in English. A native speaker of English knows how a simple English sentence is negated. It could therefore be contended that a native speaker of any language has a tacit knowledge of the words and the rules which govern the pronunciation, word formation and sentence formation of that language.