生成语言学是语言学中关于生成语法的一种学说。对不同的人来说，“生成语法”可能表示不同的意思，涉及有不同的范围，意思也可能重叠。

生成语言学用完全直接明析的方式来解决语法的研究与应用问题，不同人可能会以不同的方式来处理。

根据其正式定义，生成语法指的是一种完全明析的语法。它由有限个数的法则组成，应用这些法生成一个特定语言中符合语法的句子（通常来讲这些句子的数目可以是无穷的）。这个术语及其定义最早由诺姆·乔姆斯基给出，并且由许多语言学字典沿用。生成一词现在被用来作为一个带有特定意义的技术名词。这样，说一种语法生成了一个句子，它指是那个句子被“分配了一个结构类型”。

Generative grammar is a linguistic theory that considers grammar to be a system of rules that is intended to generate exactly those combinations of words which form grammatical sentences in a given language. The term was originally used in relation to the theories of grammar developed by Noam Chomsky, beginning in the late 1950s. Linguists who follow the generative approach, originated by Chomsky, have been called generativists. The generative school has focused on the study of syntax, but has also addressed other aspects of a language's structure, including morphology and phonology.