Chomskian linguistics and human uniqueness

[Robin Hamilton]

From: <ronbutters at AOL.COM>

> Generally, science involves worrying about truth rather than being
> offended by the arrogance of the or unsubstantiated suspicions about the
> motives of the scientist.

I'm with Joel in being skeptical as to Chomsky's vision of humanity
hard-wired for language, but more to the point, I've always failed to see
how it's *relevant to Generative Grammar.  Whether or not the hypothesis is
"scientific", it's beside the point.  It does, however, link in with
Chomsky's universalist view of linguistic processes, which strikes me as
savouring more of Platonic idealism than scientific empiricism.

More to the point, I'm not sure that Chomsky's work allows any serious grip
on semantics, and in this it could be seen to diverge radically from de
Saussure to the extent that it heads in the opposite direction.

Halliday, on the other hand ...

Wilson, what did you think of Halliday?  That you kept the souvenir booklet
suggests you were impressed.

Enquiring minds want to know ...

Robin

> ------Original Message------
> From: Joel S. Berson
> Sender: ADS-L
> To: ADS-L
> ReplyTo: ADS-L
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Chomskian linguistics and human uniqueness
> Sent: Sep 9, 2010 7:58 PM
>
> At 9/9/2010 04:58 PM, Ronald Butters wrote:
>>Chomsky would say that they are all restatements of each other, and,
>>in turn, restatements of his work, if they are any good.
>
> I'm sure he would.  That's why I would be quite happy to see
> Chomskian linguistics gone out of favor.  :-)
>
> I have no knowledge of this subject.  But that humans are hard-wired
> for language, and other primates not, I am very skeptical of.  (I
> don't know if Chomsky makes the second claim.)  It strikes me as the
> dying gasp of "scientists" who need to see humans as unique because
> of one single biologically-established capability that they have all
> of and other primates none of.  I am also suspicious about assertions
> that something or other is hard-wired in the human brain, considering
> its demonstrated great capacity for accommodation (in particular, in
> the brain-damaged).
>
> Joel

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