Important Figures in Linguistics - Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky 

    Noam Chomsky, born in 1928, is an American Linguist and cognitive scientist. He is interested in the underlying structure of language. As a result, he studied syntax to find out how and why humans are able to comprehend and produce language. His impact on this field is so huge that none of any other linguists have this amount of impact in his century. His works and ideas shaped the way for the science of Linguistics to develop. Therefore, he is called “the father of modern linguistics.”

    His landmark work is “Syntactic Structures” which is an elaboration of generative grammar.  It is important because at the time this work was written, it was unusual to think about language from a biological perspective. Besides, he has a theory, which is universal grammar. In his theory, Chomsky claims that all humans are born with knowledge about linguistics features and how to gather them correctly. 

     Moreover, Chomsky claims that behaviorism isn’t the way of studying language anymore. Behaviorism in the language is the way to learn a language through interaction. Chomsky claims that behaviorism is not able to answer all the questions. For instance, according to behaviorist theory, children should speak flawless as they are imitating their parents. However, children make many mistakes while learning the language. This means there is something wrong with the behaviorist theory. 

     Lastly, Chomsky has more than 100 books, and one of his most known books is “Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power.” It’s about income inequality and the situation regarding wealth and power in the United States. It also shows us of Noam Chomsky’s analysis of neoliberalism. 

                               💬 Do not forget to comment! Share what you think with us!