Goals of syntactic theory

The goals of syntactic theory stress the importance of individual languages and language in
general. One of its goals is to develop precise descriptions of aspects of the syntax of various languages,
and the ways in which specific languages combine words to form sentences. The other goal is to develop
a general theory of syntax, specifying what languages have in common and how they can vary.
Chomsky and others argue that the main focus of linguistics should be I- (internalized) languages.
An I-language is a set of rules and principles in the mind of a speaker. As well as an I- language, speakers
have a mental lexicon. The I-language and the mental lexicon make available an infinite set of sentences.
Chomsky argues that a language is a body of rules and principles in the mind of a speaker, but
also that universal grammar is a body of principles and parameters which is an innate component of the
mind. The former are operative in all languages, while the latter allow a limited amount of variation
between languages. Thus, for Chomsky, syntactic theory is ultimately about the human mind. Syntactic
theory can offer some insight into the workings of the human mind. For many people, this is a major
attraction of syntactic theory.