Re: CHAT: Chomsky (Was Re: ALERT: Chomsky Giving a Talk on Language Creation?)

On Thursday, January 8, 2004, at 12:24 PM, John Cowan wrote:

> Ray Brown scripsit:
>
>> I may have misunderstood Chompskyism, or maybe Pinker mis-represents
>> it - but my understanding was that the 'innate grammar' is regarded
>> as the end-product of aeons of evolution, just as people like me see
>> the the human eyeball the result of the same process.
>
> Chomsky, however, is unwilling to discuss mechanisms whereby this
> may have come about, and people have charged him with what we might
> call implicit creationism: he treats the language organ/instinct
> as if it arose complete and full-blown in all details.
Right - I was going by the Pinker version.  As you've said, Chomsky
himself is not the easiest read.  However, to someone of my background,
your description makes him sound to me like a Platonist rather than
a Murkian Creationist.

>
> BTW, your spelling "Chompsky" is interesting as showing the regular
> English sound-change /ms/ > /mps/ that has actually added a "p"
> to "Thompson" (Tom's son).  (Hi, Chlewey!)
Like Thomson & Thompson in the English version of Tintin  :)

Actually, I think there was some interference from subconscious memories
of reading about experiment with getting a Chimpanzee to understand
language;
IIRC he was (nick)named Nim Chimpsky.

It does, however, reflect the way I pronounce his name.  The same sound
change
occurs in Latin, e.g.
sumo, sumere, _sumpsi_ (<-- sum+si), sumptum (<-- sum+tum) "to take up,
assume"
[long 'u' in all forms]

[snip]
>> introspection.  But, I agree, it did give appear to give Chompskyism
>> an anglocentric slant; but I do not believe this was intended.
>
> Indeed.  I believe this complaint can fairly be called obsolete as well:
> too many languages have now been discussed using various Chomskyan
> frameworks.
Yep - that's what I thought.  That's why I was using the past tense.

Ray
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