Chomsky on economy and HPSG

[Carl Pollard]

Hi Bob,

On Chomsky's comment

  On HPSG, there's no way to compare, as far as I can see. HPSG is not
  concerned with the same questions -- what I have always understood
  to be the core questions of biology of language.

it seems to me all the frameworks are concerned with the same
questions, though emphases of particular researchers vary a lot.  From
the late 1970's on, after the emergence of many frameworks informed by
ideas from algebra, model theory, proof theory, type theory,
theoretical computer science, etc. the main thing that has
differentiated Chomsky's actual theories (as opposed to what he says
about them) from other people's has been vagueness of formulation. I
know, he sees that as a good thing, and it certainly has been a
successful research strategy in the respect that is easier to get lots
of people to do things that don't rquire any math.  But when people
actually formalize parts of GB or MP and all you see is a theory, with
the high-minded rhetorical padding stripped away, it sure looks (to me
anyway) like it is just about the same stuff we all work on.  I think
all of us who work in more formal frameworks see that as an advantage
of formalization: that it demystifies theorization and makes it easier
to see what the theory is really about. I have no doubt that interest
in certain deep questions about biology is ultimately what Chomsky is
interested in -- we all have bigger fish to fry -- but in what sense
have his actual theoretical proposals really been about biology, where
other framweworks' proposals have not?

Carl



Bob Borsley


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Prof. Robert D. Borsley
Department of Language and Linguistics
University of Essex
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