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

Quoting David Peterson <ThatBlueCat@...>:

> Andreas wrote:
>
> <<I have zero wish to discuss Chomsky's politics here, but I'd like to know
> why
> you'd think that Chomsky's linguistics, or indeed anyone's linguistics,
> would
> correlate with rightwingerhood.>>
>
> Just for the simple reason that innate grammar sounds a lot like
> creationism.
It does? Since judging from Genesis, God either created man complete with
knowledge og a language, or simply taught them one, whether language is
software or hardware functionality would seem to under creationist assumptions
to be a divine design choice of limited practical interest. And a plausible
case for innate grammar can certainly be made from evolutionistic standpoint.
(Indeed, it would seem to be neatly in line with the "biologism" evolutionists
are not infrequently charged with.)

That rightwingerhood should correlate with creationism is certainly not a
given, but I guess it's an empirical fact, at least on your side of the pond
(I've met a number of decidedly leftwing creationists on mine).

>   Also, transformational grammar can make it look like languages not like
> English are wrong, and need to be fixed to behave more like English,
> underlyingly
> (whether that was intended or not).
Ethnocentrism certainly isn't a rightwing monopoly; it might be more common
there, but that I suspect someone of ethnocentrism would not in itself make me
suspect them, if that's the word, of being rightwingers. Then, I live in a
country where the Extreme Right might be heard flakking the Social Democrats
from the left ...

                                                        Andreas