Noam Chomsky on Universal Grammar and the genetics of language

Excellent little insight into one of the founding pillars of modern linguistics and evolutionary and cognitive psychology. In countering B. F. Skinner's behaviourist dogma with his conception of the human faculty for language as a "mental organ", Chomsky started a revolution across both the social and biological sciences, the after-effects of which are still being felt well into the 21st century.

The full talk can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnLWSC5p1XE

Category:

Education

Tags:

• language
• noam
• chomsky
• linguistics
• transformative
• universal
• grammar
• genetics
• acquisition
• device
• LAD
• skinner
• innateness
• mental
• organ

[lgarvaux]

First off I am not a linguist nor am I qualified on any level to comment other than as a layman observer. What strikes me about this entire half century+ old endeavor termed UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR is somewhat akin to present day 'ART CIRCLES who engage in a language of their own contrivance only understood by them and their pretenders: esp.those of a certain socio-economic class and known colloquially and derisively as simply "ART SPEAK".

Similarly I would term UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR to be "SPEAK SPEAK"

[niriop]

@lgarvaux I don't get your point

[DerEchteSenf]

This is the first time I see him outright dismiss mysticism about higher mental faculties in an interview. O__O

[niriop]

@DerEchteSenf Same about him on actual generation of consciousness :( New Mysterianism is such a dead end.

[niriop]

@niriop *Shame

[9zreed]

He can get up there and declare all that off the top of his head, but he doesn't bother to comb his hair? I applaud you Mr. Chomsky.

[15sayantani]

al hail chomsky!!the man a living legend!

[BethhCorserr12]

@lgarvaux By 'universal grammar' he is refering to how all languages have similar grammatical structures. The word order they speak in may differ, though every language has word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), past, future and present tenses, sentence types and sentence structures that are familiar to every language. Even in these 'art circles' you speak of, there would be features like nouns, tense and sentence types in their speech. This is what he means by 'Universal Grammar' :) x

[ThysaniaAg]

@ThysaniaAg Oh nvm. I found it. "This event took place on April 22, 2008 at the Google Cambridge office, as a part of the Authors@Google series."

[ThysaniaAg]

Where and when is he lecturing here?

[DerEchteSenf]

@niriop Hmmm consciousness is a cloudy term so whenever someone talks about it, I would ask anyway:: What does he _actually_ talk about?

So hearing what xy thinks about con. only irritates me anyway.

[niriop]

If you're so fucking connected, go to the man and his colleagues themselves, not his admirers. Write a book with your vast knowledge, shake up the academic world.

How about a paper you've written on the subject? Can you at least give me that?