Longman Dictionary of

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rubric n
in tests and instructional materials, the instructions which indicate to the
student what he or she has to do to complete a task or activity.
rule 1 n
(in TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR) a statement
1 about the formation of a linguistic unit, e.g. how to form the PAST TENSE
of VERBs, or
2 about the CORRECT usage of a linguistic unit or units, e.g. that verbs are
modified by adverbs (Come here quickly) and not by adjectives (*Come
here quick).
rule 2 n
(in GENERATIVE GRAMMAR) a statement about the formation of a linguistic
unit or about the relationship between linguistic units. Rules describe and
analyze (generate) structures in a language and change the structures into
sentences.
see also BASE COMPONENT, GENERATIVE GRAMMAR
rule-governed behaviour n
also rule-governed system
a person’s knowledge of a language (COMPETENCE) can be described as a
system of symbols representing linguistic units (such as MORPHEMEs and
words) and rules that manipulate such symbols to create sentences.
Language is thus often described as a “rule-governed system”. Whether
such rules reflect the mental processes involved in language processing
(see PERFORMANCE) and whether language use should be described as
“rule-governed behaviour” has been a matter of continued debate.
Although the exact notion of what constitutes a rule has changed greatly
in successive versions of GENERATIVE THEORY, in general, linguists and psycholinguists
who work within the generative paradigm have argued for
the psychological reality of linguistic rules. Those who accept the view of
language put forth by CONNECTIONISM (which models language acquisition
and use in networks that do not contain rules) emphasize that “rulelike”
behaviour does not logically entail the psychological reality of
“rule-governed” behaviour.
rule-governed system n
see RULE-GOVERNED BEHAVIOUR
rule narrowing n
see ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF THOUGHT
rule narrowing
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