The Ideas of Chomsky-BBC interview

A very early and also very interesting interview with Noam Chomsky regarding his Linguistic work published at the time.
The last part contains a discussion of his political views regarding the Vietnam war and Libertarian Socialism.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Noam
• Chomsky
• Linguistics
• Generative
• Grammar
• Libertarian
• Socialism

[astroboomboy]

@uselessname1000 When Chomsky says learned he means learning as in learning to play an instrument or to do arithmetic. Language is not learned in that manner, as it is something that one acquire without seemingly any effort. Modern neuropsychology and linguistics has shown this idea to correspond quite accurately to reality. Reality is often at odds with our perceptions. If you want a more "dumbed" down version of his ideas you can read the books of Stephen Pinker.

[KrugmanTheKing]

@dick391

No, you are not your own master. You may not have in practical term the option of not selling yourself and that's the problem of capitalism: most people don't have this option. And once you sell yourself, you work under the guidance of someone else to whom you are held accountable, but who is not accountable in his decisions to you.

That's what I call slavery.

[fLcGambit]

what is the dominant linguistic theory when it comes to feral children? basically those that are largely abandoned in early childhood and never really develop language. There are many cases of these types of children being found later on in their life(around 9-10) and attempts to teach them language were unsuccessful. Is language this process that must be continually developed throughout a certain time-frame?

[astroboomboy]

@spiritpunker You are right, it does not apply to second language acquisition as that is based on other principles. When learning a second language you are relating that language to the patterns learned in the first. That is why learning a second language is much harder, because the plasticity of the brain is lost, and a new language does not "grow" in your brain. You have to use the parameters that have been unlocked for the second language, and so it's easier to learn a similar language.

[spiritpunker]

@astroboomboy To be precise, this actually does not apply to the case of second language acquisition.

[idiotkrati]

does he have a facial palsy?

[uselessname1000]

language isn't learned? sure thats absolute nonsense .

[KrugmanTheKing]

@dick391

It's too much left in the hands of too few: it has to end.

[KrugmanTheKing]

@dick391

Want it seeks to avoid is exactly what you fear: placing too much power in the hands of too few -- the whole point is about doing that economically and politically. That's why wealth in excess has to be brought down, why we have to split the gains and the influence... because as we speak, it already happens.

Elites devise politics in their own interests: they own the corporations, finance campaigns, own the medias and supply the participants who are elected.

[KrugmanTheKing]

@dick391

And, no, it's not a fallacy. It's perfectly consequent: if we can't all get to decide everything, democracy is the solution. But the point in de-centralizing it is to make people participate in it more directly.

You have to make power accountable if you want to avoid being the victim of an arbitrary treatment... that's as simple as that. And it's not a society without rules or without political structures -- it's without States as we know them.