Full Description
This work critically examines Noam Chomsky's widely accepted ontological assumptions—now referred to as "biolinguistics"—and demonstrates that they are internally inconsistent. Notably, Chomsky himself has, at least once, acknowledged this issue.
Additionally, we challenge a fundamental claim from Chomsky's linguistic theories of the 1950s: that natural languages, particularly English, operate on constructive (proof-theoretic) grammars, also known as generative grammars. This assertion fails to account for numerous linguistic structures that fall outside its framework.
Finally, we scrutinize Chomsky's frequent assertion that "there is essentially only one language on Earth," revealing it to be more rhetorical than substantive.
By exposing these foundational flaws, this work calls for a reassessment of key aspects of Chomskyan linguistics.
Contents
Editorial Foreword
1 Introduction
2 The Foundational Admission
1 Background
2 Incoherence
3 Incoherence Highlighted
4 The Admission: 1
5 The Admission: 2
6 The Analyticity Contradiction
7 Biolinguistics vs. Katz's Platonist Conception of Natural Language
8 Natural Language and Knowledge of Natural Language
9 Ethical Issues
10 The Manufacture of Consent
3 Natural Languages Are Not Generative Systems
Part 1: Generative Beginnings
Part 2: Theoretically Ignored Sentences
Part 3: Implications
4 The One Language Claim
1 A Deceptive Claim
2 'Peripheral'/'Minor' Differences
3 Space Alien Scientist Opinion
4 Lack of Good Faith
5 Lack of Motivation
6 Conclusion
5 Conclusion
References
Index
