FW: Does Language Influence Culture? - WSJ.com

[Kephart, Ronald]

On 7/28/10 8:58 AM, "Sarah Wagner" <swagner at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU> wrote:

> I find it frustrating that she wouldn't refer to any linguist except
> Chomsky, who could care less what people do with their language.

I find it frustrating, and also unfortunate, that folks misrepresent Chomsky
in this way. For one thing, NC has over the years stressed three research
questions: (1) What do people know when they know a language?  (2) How do
people acquire this knowledge?  (3) How do people put this knowledge to use?
NC himself has always admitted  that he's only one person (why should he
have to?), that he can only do so much, and that he prefers to work on (1)
and (2).

For another, NC has for many years taught us about the ways elites use
language to control what people know and think about their government's
activities, both at home and out in the world. See his discussions, in all
sorts of places, of the use of the word "terrorism," for example.

There's plenty about NC's formal linguistics that I don't understand very
well, and there's some that I think I understand and disagree with; but to
say that he doesn't care at all about how language is used in the world is
simply false.

Ron
--
Ronald Kephart
Associate Professor of Anthropology
   and Linguistics
University of North Florida
http://crankylinguist.blogspot.com/