Asserts that several of the assumptions underlying Noam Chomsky's and W. V. O. Quine's theories of language acquisition and development are misleading or false. It is argued, among other things, that children do not "acquire" language, but rather learn how to participate in the linguistic community surrounding them. (99 references) (MDM)

In the foreword to "The Politics of Genocide", political theorist Noam Chomsky writes that denial of the American Indian holocaust is a potent force in the United States. He argues that "the most unambiguous cases of genocide" are often "acknowledged by the perpetrators, and passed over as insignificant or even denied in retrospect by the…

The author accepts some of the technical comments in Dresher and Hornstein's article on artificial intelligence (AI), (EJ 161 384, Cognition, December 1976), but disagrees with several other comments. Although Dresher and Hornstein unquestioningly adopt Noam Chomsky's paradigm for the study of language, their real point is that AI researchers are…

Discusses how Cold War ideological models provide a way to examine the U.S. role in world affairs. Discusses and compares on the writings of Paul Gagnon and Noam Chomsky on this topic. Concludes that students should stand outside both models to develop a meaningful perspective on the U.S. role during the Cold War. (CFR)

This article presents a bilingual teaching strategy based on Noam Chomsky's universalist hypothesis, which emphasizes the "universal" aspects of human language. The strategy focuses on the matching process that all learners carry out between the first (L1) and second (L2) language, as well as the differences between L1 and L2. (58…

Examines Noam Chomsky's (1957) discussion of "grammaticalness" and the role of linguistics in the "correct" way of speaking and writing. It is argued that the concern of linguistics with the tools of grammar has resulted in confusion, with the tools becoming mixed up with the actual language, thereby becoming the central…

In this article, a noted linguist reflects on his tumultuous foray into politics. For years George P. Lakoff has been at the center of some of the biggest intellectual disagreements in linguistics (most famously with Noam Chomsky) and has helped create an important interdisciplinary field of study, cognitive linguistics, that is reshaping people's…

Intended for the student of linguistics or the structural grammarian, who must develop an awareness of their intellectual heritage, the present work surveys the study of language in ancient times, the medieval and early modern periods, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century to 1950. (This second edition includes additional material on…

Academic freedom has been a principle that undergirds the university since 1915. Beyond this, it also protects a spirit of free inquiry essential to a democratic society. But in the post-9/11 present, the basic principles of academic freedom have been deeply challenged. There have been many startling instances where the rhetoric of national…

The aim of this collection of Noam Chomsky's writings over the past 12 years is to present the main outlines of transformational theory, using as far as possible Chomsky's own words, but arranged in such a way that a non-specialist will have no difficulty in following the text. The topics covered include syntax, phonology, semantics, and language…

These readings on language and culture are divided into sections on: "Principles of Language,""Culture and Language,""Structure of the English Language,""Ancestry and History of English,""Aspects of American English,""Americans and the Other World,""Language and Literature," and "Aspects of Applied Linguistics." Contributing authors include Noam…

Phonemic phonology became important because it provided a descriptive account of dialects and languages that had never been transcribed before, and it derives its greatest strength from its practical orientation, which has proved beneficial to language teaching and learning. Noam Chomsky's criticisms of it are largely unjust because he has not…

This collection of 10 essays on the nature of second language learning focuses mainly on distinctions between the audiolingual and the cognitive-code theory of learning and also on the interrelationships between psychology, linguistics, and second language learning. A synthesis which cuts across divisions in methodology, caused by superficial…

This book is designed to make the thought of Noam Chomsky, a scholar whose work has been influential not only in the field of linguistics but in psychology, philosophy, and political science as well, accessible to a wider public than is reached by Chomsky's highly technical writing. The author expresses the hope that this book will provide the…

An overview of Noam Chomsky's theories about transformational grammar and phonology is given. Since Chomsky was interested in characterizing what it is to know a language, the ways in which we demonstrate knowledge of our native language are discussed in detail. Particular emphasis is placed on describing how the transformational approach actually…