His Journey to Zenith: NOAM CHOMSKY

Saturday, April 15, 2023 1MOHAMMAD MOSIUR RAHMAN

WELCOME

HIS JOURNEY TO ZENITH

A Presentation For Introduction to Graduate Studies and Research Prepared By :Mohammad Mosiur

Rahman

Saturday, April 15, 2023 2MOHAMMAD MOSIUR RAHMAN

Noam Chomsky (December 7, 1928 )

Saturday, April 15, 2023MOHAMMAD MOSIUR RAHMAN3

“The center of excellence”

Voted as the most influential living intellectual and seventh among the “heroes of all time “ and the eighth most cited source overall

Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society

39 honorary degrees from the leading universities of the world.


“The soul of excellence” (cont.)

In 2013, a newly described species of bee was named after him: Megachile Chomsky

A recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association

Chomsky was awarded the “Sydney Peace Prize”


“The soul of excellence” (cont.)

The “Kyoto Prize” in Basic Sciences He is twice winner of The Orwell

Award, granted by The National Council of Teachers of English for "Distinguished Contributions to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language


What he actually does ?

Father of modern

linguistics

Cognitive Scientist

Logician and

computer Scientist

Philosopher


Influenced by William Chomsky : Father of Noam

Chomsky and Prominent Hebrew Linguists

George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic.

Rudolf Rocker : anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist.

René Descartes : Metaphysics, epistemology, mathematics

Immanuel Kant : Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics.


Influenced by Bertrand Russell : Epistemology,

Ethics, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Philosophy of language.

David Hume: Scottish philosopher, historian, economist.

Hebrew literature : He started his work in the field of linguistics with Hebrew literature.


Science and Noam Chomsky

"cognitive science “ "The Chomsky hierarchy " The psychology of language

acquisition


Mr. Nim Chimpsky (November 19, 1973 – March 10, 2000)


Philosophy and Chomsky

Religious view : Unstated Political view : "socialist anarchist" Field of interest : “Analytic

philosophy” Present day democracy


Linguistics, Where he lives

Father of modern linguistics. Professor emeritus of linguistics at

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Head of the department of linguistics University of Harvard.


WORK of CHOMSKY and its Present days relevance

Syntax Semantics Generative Grammar Transformational Grammar Language acquisition Second language acquisition Interlanguage language competence Language performance Generalization of language


Linguistics, where he lives Two most significant work in the

field of linguistics- *Transformational Generative

Grammar and *Mentalist/minimalist view of

language acquisition .


Transformational Generative Grammar

Recognizes the relationship among the various elements of a sentence

Formation of Possible sentences of a language using its rules.

Transformable elements of the sentence.


Generative Grammar

Though Language is an independent instinct but Generative Grammar works to provide a set of rules that can accurately predict which combinations of words are able to make grammatically correct sentences.

Subject verb object


Transformational grammar Transformational grammar is a form

of language analysis that establishes a relationship with the different elements in the sentence of a language which is transformational.

- Asif wrote a letter (Active )- A letter is written by Asif ( Passive)


Transformational Generative Grammar

Transformational Generative Grammar could be transformed into two structure or meaning –

* Syntactic structure (surface meaning)

- Phonetics or sound * Semantic Relation (deeper meaning )


"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously"


Mentalist/minimalist view of language acquisition

Mentalist view of language acquisition built based on the role of nature or how innate properties of human mind shape learning language.


Mentalist/minimalist view of language acquisition

“Our brain has a seat for language”

Major elements to distinguish the theory-

-Language acquisition device (LAD) -Universal Grammar (UG)


Funny logical equation,

If, Computer= HUMAN brainthen, Software =Universal GrammarHardware= LAD


Universal Grammar Universal Grammar or UG contains a

limited set of rules for organizing language based on the assumption that all languages have a common structural basis. This set of rules is known as universal grammar.


Universal Grammar Every sentence of all language has

something common . like - a subject, a verb ,an object though may be the sequence is different .

Our brain has the sense of acquiring the language correctly and structurally, which takes one form grammatically correct and other is wrong. Like- As a child we naturally pick the correct form of language.


Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Language acquisition Device is a hypothetical module of the brain or innate capacity that responsible for human language acquisition.

It is the fact that physical areas of the brain concerned with production and comprehension.


“BEEF” is bad for heart or “BEEF” is good for heart

No major difference Stimulus input vs. linguistics environment Universal Grammar and different

language structure.


Bibliography

.


Syntactic Structures, London: Mouton, 1957.

With this book Chomsky struck a fatal blow at the behaviorist theory of Skinner. At the same time Chomsky reacted to structural linguistics that was content with describing and classifying languages. Chomsky extended the idea of formal systems to linguistics by using the logical formalism to express the grammar of a language


Language and Mind, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968.

It presents Chomsky's one of the early work on the nature and acquisition of language as a genetically endowed, biological system (Universal Grammar), through the rules and principles of which we acquire an internalized knowledge


The Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle), New York:

Harper & Row, 1968.

The Sound Pattern of English continue to be critical to current phonology and in many instances and the solutions proposed.


A Review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior

The article talks about recent finding on the B.F. Skinner’s verbal behavior. In the book syntactic structure he actually hammered the idea of Skinner’s behaviorist theory of language and in this article he added some new supplements.


The Responsibility of Intellectuals

1967 marked Chomsky's entry into the public debate on the United States' foreign policy. In February he published that influential essay that He expanded on his argument to produce his first political book, American Power and the New Mandarins


Influences Hugo Chávez, Christopher Hitchens,

Colin McGinn, Edward Said, Steven Pinker, John Searle, Daniel Dennett, Stephen Jay Gould.


Thank you

His Journey to Zenith: NOAM CHOMSKY

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