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{{distinguish|General semantics}}
'''Generative semantics''' was a research program in [[theoretical linguistics]] which held that [[syntax|syntactic structures]] are computed on the basis of [[meaning (linguistics)|meaning]]s rather than the other way around. Generative semantics developed out of [[transformational-generative grammar|transformational generative grammar]] in the mid-1960s, but stood opposition to it. The period in which the two research programs coexisted was marked by intense and often personal clashes now known as the [[linguistics wars]]. Its proponents included [[John R. Ross|Haj Ross]], [[Paul Postal]], [[James McCawley]], and [[George Lakoff]], who dubbed themselves "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse".
Generative semantics is no longer practiced under that name, though many of its central ideas have blossomed in the [[cognitive linguistics]] tradition. It is also regarded as a key part of the intellectual heritage of [[head-driven phrase structure grammar]] (HPSG) and [[construction grammar]], and some of its insights live on in mainstream generative grammar. [[Pieter Seuren]] has developed a ''semantic syntax'' which is very close in spirit to the original generative semantics framework, which he played a role in developing.<ref>{{cite book|author=Newmeyer, Frederick, J.|title=Linguistic Theory in America|year=1986|publisher=Academic Press|edition=Second}} See p. 138.</ref>
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