1. Chomsky
"...People
wouldliketothinkthatthere'ssomebodyuptherewhoknowswhathe's
doing. Since wedon'tparticipate,
wedon'tcontrolandwedon'teventhinkaboutquestions of
vitalimportance. Wehopesomebody is payingattentionwho has
somecompetence. Let'shopetheship has a captain, in
otherwords, since we're not takingpart in what'sgoing on...
It is an importantfeature of theigeologicalsystemtoimpose on
peoplethefeelingthattheyreallyareincompetenttodealwiththeseco
mplexandimportantissues: they'dbetterleave it tothecaptain.
Onedevice is todevelop a star system, an array of
figureswhoaremediacreationsorcreations of theacademic propaganda establishment,
whosedeepinsightswearesupposedtoadmireandtowhomwemusthappilyandconfidently
assigntherighttocontrolourlivesandtocontrolinternationalaffairs...."
- Noam Chomsky
Chomsky on Language Acquisition
AccordingtoNoam Chomsky, themechanism of
languageacquisitionformulatesfrominnateprocesses. Thistheory is
evidencedbychildrenwholive in thesamelinguisticcommunitywithout a plethora of
differentexperienceswhoarrive at comparablegrammars. Chomsky thusproposesthat
"allchildrensharethesameinternalcontraintswhichcharacterizenarrowlythegrammarthe
yaregoingtoconstruct." (Chomsky, 1977, p.98) Since welive in a biologicalworld,
"there is noreasonforsupposingthementalworldto be an exception." (Chomsky, 1977,
p.94) And he believesthatthere is a criticalageforlearningn a language as is
truefortheoveralldevelopment of thehuman body.
Chomsky'smechanism of
languageacquisitionalsolinksstructurallinguisticstoempiricistthought: "Theseprinciples
[of structuralismandempiricism] determinethetype of grammarsthatareavailable in
principles. Theyareassociatedwith an evaluationprocedurewhich,
givenpossiblegrammars, selectsthebestone. Theevaluationprocedure is alsopart of
thebiologicalgiven. Theacquisition of languagethus is a process of selection of
thebestgrammarcompatiblewiththeavailabledata. Iftheprinciples can be
madesufficientlyrestrictive, therewillalso be a kind of 'discoveryprocedure.' "
(Chomsky, 1977, p.117)
Chomsky on GenerativeGrammar
Chomsky'sbeliefsaboutgenerativegrammararethefactorswhichhelpdifferentiate his
viewsfromthestructuralisttheory; he believesthatgenerativegrammarmust
"renderexplicittheimplicitknowledge of thespeaker." (Chomsky, 1977, p.103) His
model of generativegrammarbeginswith an axiomand a set of well-
definedrulestogeneratethedesiredwordsequences. Thefollowing is an example of how
Chomsky proposesindividualsspontaneouslycomprehendthatcertaincombinations of
threewordsmake sense whilstothers do not:

2. Onegoal of Chomsky'sworkwithlinguistics is tocreate an explanatorytheory of
generativegrammar. Whenweareabletoprovide a deductivechain of
reasoningthatdoes not upholdthe general principles of thought, factstermed
"boundaryconditions" ariseandserve as a
potentialexplanationforthephenomenaassociatedwith an explanatorytheory. Therules
of theEnglish auxiliarysystemserve as a goodexampletodemonstratethisprinciple:

3. Chomsky on Semantics
"[T]he study of meaningandreferenceand of theuse of languageshould be
excludedfromthefield of linguistics. . . . [G]iven a lingustictheory, theconcepts of
grammerareconstructed (so it seems) on thebasis of primitivenotionsthatare not
semantic (wherethegrammarcontainsthephonologyandsyntax), but
thatthelinguistictheoryitselfmust be chosenso as toprovidethebestpossibleexplanation
of semanticphenomena, as well as others." (Chomsky, 1977, p.139)
"Itseemsthatothercognitivesystems -- in particular, oursystem of
beliefsconcerningthings in theworldandtheirbehavior -- playanessentialpart in
ourjudments of meaningandreference, in an extremelyintricatemanner, and it is not at
allclearthatmuchwillremainifwetrytoseparatethepurelylinguisticcomponents of what in
informalusageoreven in technicaldiscussionwecall 'themeaning of
lingusticexpression.' " (Chomsky, 1977, p.142)

4. "He showedthatsurfacestructureplayed a muchmoreimportant role in
semanticinterpretationthat had beensupposed; ifso, thentheStandardhypothesis,
accordingtowhich it wasthedeepstructurethatcompletelydeterminedthisinterpretation,
is false." (Chomsky, 1977, p.151)
Chomsky on Behaviorism
"Whatever 'behaviorism' mayhaveserved in thepast, it has becomenothingmorethan a
set of arbitraryrestrictions on 'legitimate' theoryconstruction . . . thekind of
intellectualshacklesthatphysicalscientistswouldsurely not
tolerateandthatcondemnsanyintellectualpursuittoinsignificance." (Bjork, 1993, p.204)
Noam Chomsky is known as one of
theleadingauthoritiespertainingtolanguageandlanguageacquisition, and he is
currentlythehead of theLingusticsDepartment of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Forbooks in Chomsky,
checkouthttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/generic-quicksearch-query/002-
3184680-1384603.