Reflections on Language [Paperback]

Noam Chomsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 1975

Shelf and minor wear. A nice book!

Product Details

• Paperback: 269 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (December 12, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394731239
• ISBN-13: 978-0006342991
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #886,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. A member of the American Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. His books include At War with Asia, Towards a New Cold War, Fateful Triangle: The U. S., Israel and the Palestinians, Necessary Illusions, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy, Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Philosophical discussion for nonexperts, February 21, 2007

By 

Viktor Blasjo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reflections on Language (Paperback)

The principles of human language acquisition can be seen as a "learning theory", and, while "we lack an interesting conception" of almost all perceivable learning theories, "there are, I believe, some substantive steps towards [the learning theory of human language], but nothing comparable in other domains of human learning" (p. 19). "Let us define 'universal grammar' (UG) as the system of principles, conditions and rues that are elements or properties of all human languages not merely by accident but by [biological] necessity ... Thus UG can be taken as expressing 'the essence of human language.' ... UG will specify what language learning must achieve, if it takes place successfully. Thus UG will be a significant component of [the learning theory of human language] ... We can gain some insight into UG ... whenever we find properties of language that can reasonably be supposed not to have been learned." (pp. 29-30).

The following is one such piece of UG. One may turn declarations into questions by moving the "is" in front, e.g. "the man is tall" becomes "is the man tall". But consider now the statement "the man who is tall is in the room". If language was nothing but a social construction then it would be perfectly reasonable for children trying to form the corresponding question to say "is the man who tall is in the room" in analogy with the above. However, "children make many mistakes in language learning, but never mistakes such as [this]" (p. 31). Apparently, "the child is employing a 'structure-dependent rule'" rather than the much simpler rule to put the first "is" in front. Why? "There seems to be no explanation in terms of 'communicative efficiency' or similar considerations. It is certainly absurd to argue that children are trained to use the structure-dependent rule, in this case ... The only reasonable conclusion is that UG contains the principle that all such rules must be structure-dependent. That is, the child's mind ... contains the instruction: Construct a structure-dependent rule, ignoring all structure-independent rules." (pp. 32-33). Feeling confident, then, that this principle must be part of UG, we conclude that it should hold universally in all human languages, and it does.

Later we find more components of UG (principle of subjacency, trace theory, specified-subject condition, etc.). "From one point of view, we can properly say that these principles provide explanations for the fact that the data are such-and-such, and thus go well beyond the descriptions of such facts in particular grammars. From another point of view, the same principles serve to account for an important aspect of human learning, that is, for the construction of certain cognitive structures that play an essential role in thought and its expression" (p. 111).

Just as UG places restrictions on human languages, human learning in general is surely restricted by innate properties of the mind, for example in the domain of scientific inquiry. "An intellectually significant science, an intelligible theory, can be developed by humans in case something close to the true theory in a certain domain happens to fall within human 'science-forming' capacities. The [learning theories] involved in scientific inquiry, whatever they may be, must be special and restrictive, or it would be impossible for scientists to converge in their judgement on particular explanatory theories that go far beyond the evidence at hand, as they customarily do in those few fields where there really is significant progress, while at the same time rejecting much evidence as irrelevant or beside the point, for the moment at least. The same [learning theories] that provide for the vast and impressive scope of scientific understanding must also sharply constrain the class of humanly accessible sciences. There is, surely, no evolutionary pressure that leads humans to have minds capable of discovering significant explanatory theories in specific fields of inquiry. Thinking of humans as biological organisms in the natural world, it is only a lucky accident if their cognitive capacity happens to be well matched to scientific truth in some area. It should come as no surprise, then, that there are so few sciences, and that so much of human inquiry fails to attain any intellectual depth." (pp. 24-25).

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars mirror mirror on the wall, March 10, 2003

By 

Kellie (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reflections on Language (Paperback)

not that you would read this book for leisure - laying on the beach, hoping to indulge in some fantasy world - but all in all, the way it makes you think has a certain attraction. kind of complicated and somewhat unrelatable if you're not already up on other theories that Chomsky bases his own ideas on. awesome exploration of language and its correlation to the human mind / body. good for research or studying.