Noam Chomsky
Created | Updated Jan 24, 2006
Noam Chomsky has developed and published linguistic theory in more than 45 years as a lecturer at MIT. His theories of language aquisition, universal grammar and the underlying structures of grammar have been contraversial and widely cited. Chomsky has also applied his academic rigour to political anyalsis and authorship, penning dozens of books, pamphlets and regularly conducting public speaking tours.
BIOGRAPHY
Chomsky was born in Philadelphia in 1929. His family was an academic and politicised one, and Noam heard his parents and thier friends discuss the issues of the time. The depression of the 1930s and and the build up to world war gave the family and thier Jewish-academic social circle much to discuss. 'The sense of growing terror was palpable,' said Chomskey.
At 16 years old, he was working in a summer camp in the Poconos when he heard the radio announce that the atom bomb had been used on Hiroshima.
"I was pretty shocked by it. I took off by myself for a couple of hours and just thought about it. I came back and never talked to anyone because nobody seemed to care... " Chomsky was an academic and thoughtful teenager, touched by the war, the depression and the impact that political events had on his family and those around him.
He won a prestigious scholarship to Harvard, which he says made his family very proud, and began the study of language. After 4 years of study he was offered his first job at the Electronics Research Lab of MIT. A team of machine translators who needed a linguist to work in the development of computer languages.
Characteristicly laid-back he dryly recalls that "I said I would be happy to come but I wouldn't work on that project, which didn't have any interest for me. They said that was fine." His linguistic career had begun.
<SUBCOM>
People talk about Chomsky like he's the number one name in Linguistics for the 20th Century. They also talk about his impact on psychology and philosophy, but then it gets into Philosophy of Linguistics, History of psycholinguistics, Linguistics of Psychohistory, and by that point, I'm lost.
This might help:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/chomsky/
"Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent" by Robert F. Barsky
LINGUISTICS (subhead)
xyroth
His work as a linguist with a team of computer programming developers he worked on the fundamentals of transformational grammers, which became integral in the fundamental to the sturctures of computer programming. (due to compilers being based upon it).
This work, early in his academic career, laid the ground for his later work work on comparative linguistics, as he began to write and lecture on his his therories about language.
As Institute Professor of Linguistics at MIT he Chomsky has had a significant impact on the field of linguistics. He developed the idea of 'universal grammar' noting that regardless of cultural differences in language there was an innate human capacity for arranging words for optimal communication. "There seems to be a way possibly to show that a core part of human language, the mechanisms that relate sound and meaning are not only largely universal, but in fact, from a certain point of view, virtually optimal."
His influence because of the science in his linguistic work is such
that just about every book on linguistics has given his work a mention.
But his philosophising as to the possible interpretations of the underlying science are more controversial.
He theorised that there were universals to be found in all languages, but critics pointed out that for the first decade of his works, almost all study was of the English language. His work using mathematics to describe language for computers to frame universal theories from this work was fortuitously timed to meet the advent of computers. But other linguists felt that he simply ignored the more subtle and indefinate elements of language.
xyroth:
his linguistic theories were developed in a series of four works.
syntactic structures (1957)
current issues in linguistic theory (1964)
aspects of the theory of syntax (1965)
reflections on language (1975)
These four papers formed the basis for his work on transformational
grammar, out of which first came his classification of grammars into
different types. Later he developed an idea of an underlying universal grammar which was later he presented as being inate, an inborn tendency to form language into certain structures, which the local grammar was 'mapped onto' during child development.
This universal grammar became a broadly accepted idea, but the assertion that it is inate, and that you are genetically programmed to be able to learn a language was highly controversial.
But his theory of a universal grammar, proveda godsend to the computer industry, who were struggling to get a deeper understanding of compilers and interpreters and of language parsing in
general. And it made the work on comparative linguistics a lot easier.
His influence because of the science in his linguistic work is such
that just about every book on linguistics has given his work a mention.
his philosophising as to the possible interpretations of the underlying
science are more controversial, and rub a lot of people with opposing
beliefs up the wrong way.
Chomsky has always been very divisive says Jack Naples
>"Chomsky is one of this century's most important figures, and has been
described as one who will be for future generations what Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Mozart, or Picasso have been for ours. He is the
most cited living person... "<
Written by a fan. (who?? & URL)
I would say that he is one of the most overrated intellectuals of all
time. He is probably unmatched at arguing and polemics, but much poorer
at providing evidence for his opinions. I see his role as very much
like Freud's in psychology - he smitulated a huge amount of interest in
the field in question but was later largely discredited.
POLITICS
Noam has published as much about politics and current affiars as he has on linguistics.
Subcom. Deidzoeb, but calling linguistics Chomsky's "dayjob" might be like saying that Einstein was an anti-war activist who did some science on the side.
'Chomsky-esque' has become a short-hand for the altenative analysis of politics, economics and international affairs that he explores and explains in his books, essays and speaking tours.
In books such as 'Manufacturing Consent,' in he describes how mechanisms of cultural and media manipulation are used by the privilidged and powerful to herd the population into lives of acceptably limited options and actions.
He says that an underlying, unthinking, almost unconsious 'elite consensus' structures the news that we see in the mass media. Each editor, the publishers, and the distribution network is staffed and managed by people holding a certain set of assumptions. These assumptions mean that they don't ask certain questions, highlight certain stories over others, and present a worldview slanted to thier own particular agenda. That agenda, bluntly, is usually that of a solvent, white, share-holding, property owning male.
In 'Necessary Illusions' in which he examines the lies and distractions, distortions and 'recieved wisdoms' that keep Britons believing that we don't have a history of public activism or protest, and Americans apathetic and entertained. Thus the democratic world is safely constrained within the bounds of 'beauracratic two party states,' with little real difference between the two parties.
"In sum, the mass media of the United States are effective and powerful idealogical institutions that carry out a system supportive propaganda function by reliance on market forces, internalised assumptions and self-censorship <I>without significant coersion<I>
Chomsky cannot be simply dismissed as a conspiracy theorist, and though often that is how the broadsheet press seem to regard his work, it more usually simply ignored. Each book works within a vigourous framework, giving his anaysis in an academic style. He cites examples of policy development and medai management sourced from official government records, broadsheet newspapers, and original source material.
For example Chomskey argues eloquently that Adam Smith has been misquoted, and his ideas selectively interpreted.
"People read snippets of Adam Smith, the few phrases they teach in school. Everybody reads the first paragraph of 'The Wealth of Nations' where he talks about how wonderful the division of labour is. But not many people get to the point where he says that division of labour will destroy human beings and turn them into creatures as stupid and ignorant as its possible to be."
Now fond of quoting Smith's words "The vile maxim of the masters of mankind: all for ourselves and nothing for others" Chomsky was asked about his 'pretty impressive research on Smith". He replied, "I didn't do any research, just read him."
Sciefyr
we have studied his political work in Philosophy class (here in Brazil). Outside of America, Chomsky's work is viewed with much less suspicion than it is within it. I've read numerous articles about Chomsky which brand him a subversive, a firebreathing radical, and goodness knows what else. Here in Brazil (and in numerous other countries), Chomsky is taken with the seriousness he deserves.
Much of his work specifically focuses on America, of course, but this
is relevant around the world, because much of which Chomsky speaks
about occurs in almost every country. America is his example, because
he lives in it and because it is the greatest representative of modern
capitalism, but his logic applies almost anywhere...
A divisive figure.
Chomsky has always been very divisive says Jack Naples
I would say that he is one of the most overrated intellectuals of all
time. He is probably unmatched at arguing and polemics, but much poorer
at providing evidence for his opinions. I see his role as very much
like Freud's in psychology - he smitulated a huge amount of interest in
the field in question but was later largely discredited.
>"Chomsky is one of this century's most important figures, and has been
described as one who will be for future generations what Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Mozart, or Picasso have been for ours. "<
Written by a fan. (who?? & URL)
Chomsky has campaigned against war, against US imperialism, against fear and powerlessness and the mechanisms of profit and poverty for most of his life. He has travelled widely, speaking and campaigning on issues as diverse as the invasion and genocide in East Timor, death squads and dissapearances in El Savador, privatisation in the UK, and the wars in Vietnam, the Gulf, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.
The seeming disparity of these campaigns is united by Chomskys framework interpretation of the world - one where the powerful and wealthy have access to lawmakers, communicators and armies to ensure that they will remain wealthy and powerful.
BIOGRAPHY
Chomsky was born in Philadelphia in 1929. His family was an academic and politicised one, and Noam heard his parents and thier friends discuss the issues of the time. The depression of the 1930s and and the build up to world war gave the family and thier Jewish-academic social circle much to discuss. 'The sense of growing terror was palpable,' said Chomskey.
At 16 years old, he was working in a summer camp in the Poconos when he heard the radio announce that the atom bomb had been used on Hiroshima.
"I was pretty shocked by it. I took off by myself for a couple of hours and just thought about it. I came back and never talked to anyone because nobody seemed to care... " Chomsky was an academic and thoughtful teenager, touched by the war, the depression and the impact that political events had on his family and those around him.
He won a prestigious scholarship to Harvard, which he says made his family very proud, and began the study of language. After 4 years of study he was offered his first job at the Electronics Research Lab of MIT. A team of machine translators who needed a linguist to work in the development of computer languages.
Characteristicly laid-back he dryly recalls that "I said I would be happy to come but I wouldn't work on that project, which didn't have any interest for me. They said that was fine." His linguistic career had begun.
<SUBCOM>
People talk about Chomsky like he's the number one name in Linguistics for the 20th Century. They also talk about his impact on psychology and philosophy, but then it gets into Philosophy of Linguistics, History of psycholinguistics, Linguistics of Psychohistory, and by that point, I'm lost.
This might help:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/chomsky/
"Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent" by Robert F. Barsky
LINGUISTICS (subhead)
xyroth
His work as a linguist with a team of computer programming developers he worked on the fundamentals of transformational grammers, which became integral in the fundamental to the sturctures of computer programming. (due to compilers being based upon it).
This work, early in his academic career, laid the ground for his later work work on comparative linguistics, as he began to write and lecture on his his therories about language.
As Institute Professor of Linguistics at MIT he Chomsky has had a significant impact on the field of linguistics. He developed the idea of 'universal grammar' noting that regardless of cultural differences in language there was an innate human capacity for arranging words for optimal communication. "There seems to be a way possibly to show that a core part of human language, the mechanisms that relate sound and meaning are not only largely universal, but in fact, from a certain point of view, virtually optimal."
His influence because of the science in his linguistic work is such
that just about every book on linguistics has given his work a mention.
But his philosophising as to the possible interpretations of the underlying science are more controversial.
He theorised that there were universals to be found in all languages, but critics pointed out that for the first decade of his works, almost all study was of the English language. His work using mathematics to describe language for computers to frame universal theories from this work was fortuitously timed to meet the advent of computers. But other linguists felt that he simply ignored the more subtle and indefinate elements of language.
xyroth:
his linguistic theories were developed in a series of four works.
syntactic structures (1957)
current issues in linguistic theory (1964)
aspects of the theory of syntax (1965)
reflections on language (1975)
These four papers formed the basis for his work on transformational
grammar, out of which first came his classification of grammars into
different types. Later he developed an idea of an underlying universal grammar which was later he presented as being inate, an inborn tendency to form language into certain structures, which the local grammar was 'mapped onto' during child development.
This universal grammar became a broadly accepted idea, but the assertion that it is inate, and that you are genetically programmed to be able to learn a language was highly controversial.
But his theory of a universal grammar, proveda godsend to the computer industry, who were struggling to get a deeper understanding of compilers and interpreters and of language parsing in
general. And it made the work on comparative linguistics a lot easier.
His influence because of the science in his linguistic work is such
that just about every book on linguistics has given his work a mention.
his philosophising as to the possible interpretations of the underlying
science are more controversial, and rub a lot of people with opposing
beliefs up the wrong way.
Chomsky has always been very divisive says Jack Naples
>"Chomsky is one of this century's most important figures, and has been
described as one who will be for future generations what Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Mozart, or Picasso have been for ours. He is the
most cited living person... "<
Written by a fan. (who?? & URL)
I would say that he is one of the most overrated intellectuals of all
time. He is probably unmatched at arguing and polemics, but much poorer
at providing evidence for his opinions. I see his role as very much
like Freud's in psychology - he smitulated a huge amount of interest in
the field in question but was later largely discredited.
POLITICS
Noam has published as much about politics and current affiars as he has on linguistics.
Subcom. Deidzoeb, but calling linguistics Chomsky's "dayjob" might be like saying that Einstein was an anti-war activist who did some science on the side.
'Chomsky-esque' has become a short-hand for the altenative analysis of politics, economics and international affairs that he explores and explains in his books, essays and speaking tours.
In books such as 'Manufacturing Consent,' in he describes how mechanisms of cultural and media manipulation are used by the privilidged and powerful to herd the population into lives of acceptably limited options and actions.
He says that an underlying, unthinking, almost unconsious 'elite consensus' structures the news that we see in the mass media. Each editor, the publishers, and the distribution network is staffed and managed by people holding a certain set of assumptions. These assumptions mean that they don't ask certain questions, highlight certain stories over others, and present a worldview slanted to thier own particular agenda. That agenda, bluntly, is usually that of a solvent, white, share-holding, property owning male.
In 'Necessary Illusions' in which he examines the lies and distractions, distortions and 'recieved wisdoms' that keep Britons believing that we don't have a history of public activism or protest, and Americans apathetic and entertained. Thus the democratic world is safely constrained within the bounds of 'beauracratic two party states,' with little real difference between the two parties.
"In sum, the mass media of the United States are effective and powerful idealogical institutions that carry out a system supportive propaganda function by reliance on market forces, internalised assumptions and self-censorship <I>without significant coersion<I>
Chomsky cannot be simply dismissed as a conspiracy theorist, and though often that is how the broadsheet press seem to regard his work, it more usually simply ignored. Each book works within a vigourous framework, giving his anaysis in an academic style. He cites examples of policy development and medai management sourced from official government records, broadsheet newspapers, and original source material.
For example Chomskey argues eloquently that Adam Smith has been misquoted, and his ideas selectively interpreted.
"People read snippets of Adam Smith, the few phrases they teach in school. Everybody reads the first paragraph of 'The Wealth of Nations' where he talks about how wonderful the division of labour is. But not many people get to the point where he says that division of labour will destroy human beings and turn them into creatures as stupid and ignorant as its possible to be."
Now fond of quoting Smith's words "The vile maxim of the masters of mankind: all for ourselves and nothing for others" Chomsky was asked about his 'pretty impressive research on Smith". He replied, "I didn't do any research, just read him."
Sciefyr
we have studied his political work in Philosophy class (here in Brazil). Outside of America, Chomsky's work is viewed with much less suspicion than it is within it. I've read numerous articles about Chomsky which brand him a subversive, a firebreathing radical, and goodness knows what else. Here in Brazil (and in numerous other countries), Chomsky is taken with the seriousness he deserves.
Much of his work specifically focuses on America, of course, but this
is relevant around the world, because much of which Chomsky speaks
about occurs in almost every country. America is his example, because
he lives in it and because it is the greatest representative of modern
capitalism, but his logic applies almost anywhere...
A divisive figure.
Chomsky has always been very divisive says Jack Naples
I would say that he is one of the most overrated intellectuals of all
time. He is probably unmatched at arguing and polemics, but much poorer
at providing evidence for his opinions. I see his role as very much
like Freud's in psychology - he smitulated a huge amount of interest in
the field in question but was later largely discredited.
>"Chomsky is one of this century's most important figures, and has been
described as one who will be for future generations what Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Mozart, or Picasso have been for ours. "<
Written by a fan. (who?? & URL)
Chomsky has campaigned against war, against US imperialism, against fear and powerlessness and the mechanisms of profit and poverty for most of his life. He has travelled widely, speaking and campaigning on issues as diverse as the invasion and genocide in East Timor, death squads and dissapearances in El Savador, privatisation in the UK, and the wars in Vietnam, the Gulf, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.
The seeming disparity of these campaigns is united by Chomskys framework interpretation of the world - one where the powerful and wealthy have access to lawmakers, communicators and armies to ensure that they will remain wealthy and powerful.
