To memorize and store an infinite set of sentences would require an infinite storage capacity. However, the brain is finite and even if it were not - your vocabulary is finite (however large it may be) - and that can be stored. If putting one word after another in any order always formed sentences, then language could simply be a set of words. You can see that words are not enough by examining the following strings of words :
(1) a. John kissed the little old lady who owned a shaggy dog.
b. Who owned the shaggy dog john kissed the little old lady.
c. John is difficult to love.
d. It is difficult to love john.
e. John is anxious to go john.
f. It is anxious to go john
g. John, who was a student, flunked his exam.
h. Exam his flunked student a was who john.
If you were asked to put an asterisk or star before the examples that seemed "funny" or no good" to you, which ones would you mark? our intuitive knowledge about what is or is not an allowable sentence in english convinces us to star b,f, and h. Which ones did you star?
would you agree with the following judgements?
(2) a. What he did was climb a tree.
b. *what he thought was want a sports car.
c. Drink you beer and go home!
d. *What are drinking and go home?
e. I expect them to arrive a week from next Thursday.
f. *I expect a week from next Thursday to arrive them.
g. Linus lost his security blanket
h. *Lost Linus security blanket his.
If you find the starred sentences are unacceptable, as we do, you see that every string words does not constitute a well-formed sentences in a language. Our knowledge of a language determines which stings f words are an d which are not sentences. Therefore, in addition to knowing the word of the language, linguistic knowledge includes rules for forming sentences and making the kinds of judgements you made about the examples in(1) and (2). These rules must be finitein length and infinite in number so that they can be stored in our finite brains. Yet, they must permit us to form and understand an infinite of new sentences. They are not rules determined by a judge or a legislature, or even rules taught in a grammar clas. They are unconcious constraint on sentence fromation that are learned when language is acquired in childhood.
A language then, consists of all the sounds, words, and infinitely many possible sentences. When you know a language, you know the sounds the words, and the rules for their combination.
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