Port-Royal Grammar


The Port-Royal Grammar was a pioneering work in the philosophy of language. Published in 1660 by Antoine Arnauld and Claude Lancelot, it was the linguistic counterpart to the Port-Royal Logic, both named after the Jansenist monastery of Port-Royal-des-Champs where their authors worked. The Grammar was heavily influenced by the Regulae of René Descartes and it has been held up as an example par excellence of Cartesian linguistics by Noam Chomsky. The central argument of the Grammar is that grammar is simply mental processes, which are universal; therefore grammar is universal.

Editions and translations