Editing Ray Jackendoff (section)

==Interfaces and generative grammar==
Jackendoff argues against a syntax-centered view of [[generative grammar]] (which he calls ''syntactocentrism''), at variance with earlier models such as the standard theory (1968), the extended standard theory (1972), the revised extended standard theory (1975), the [[government and binding theory]] (1981), and the [[minimalist program]] (1993), in which syntax is the sole generative component in the language. Jackendoff takes syntax, semantics, and phonology all to be generative, interconnected via interface components. The task of his theory is to formalize the proper interface rules.

While rejecting mainstream generative grammar due to its syntactocentrism, the [[cognitive semantics]] school has offered an insight that Jackendoff would sympathize with{{fact|date=August 2024}}<!--This is worded like speculation and if so, needs to be attributed. If, on the other hand, the source is actually Jackendoff, the use of 'would' is inappropriate.-->, namely, that meaning is a separate combinatorial system not entirely dependent upon syntax. Unlike many of the cognitive semantics approaches, he contends that neither syntax alone should determine semantics, nor vice versa. Syntax need only interface with semantics to the degree necessary to produce properly ordered phonological output (see Jackendoff 1996, 2002; Culicover & Jackendoff 2005).