FW: Does Language Influence Culture? - WSJ.com

[Sarah Wagner]

Quick note in reply:  My apologies; I should have not said that in such a
flip way.  I highly respect Chomsky for his focus, his clarity in saying "I
just do these things, not those, they are separate questions".  I'd like to
rephrase my words to say "...except Chomsky, who doesn't do research on
language use in interaction".

Sarah

On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Kephart, Ronald <rkephart at unf.edu> wrote:

> 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/
>