Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

This topic is about Abraham Noam Chomsky. He was born in Philadelphia on December 7^th, 1928. His parents were William Zev Chomsky and Elsie Simonofsky both immigrant Russian who were Hebrew scholars and teachers.

Since 1945 he studied philosophy, linguistics and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. In that place his tutelage was of the professor Zelling Harris (he was a Jewish immigrant and founder of linguistics departure in that college). Chomsky politics ideology was influenced by Harris and Elsie. Also he was influenced by Harris to study mathematics and philosophy.  

Here he got a doctorate in linguistics en 1955, and also he worked as a French and German teacher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).   In his doctoral thesis he treated linguistics that he published after in his book Syntactic Structures, his best known work. He is the founder of generative grammar, a language system that has transformed modern linguistics.

Chomsky is considered one of the most important linguists in the twentieth century. His main contribution in the field of linguistics is the influential "transformative-generative grammar" which is an attempt to describe the syntactical processes common to all human language mathematically (Smith, 1999). Chomsky draws a key distinction between the deep structure and surface structure of languages. He argues that the deep structure, which contains the meaning of a sentence, is not culturally determined but rather "hardwired" in the human brain. The meaning is then converted by a transformation into surface structure, which includes the sounds and words in a sentence. The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is the hypothetical brain mechanism that according to Chomsky explained the acquisition of syntactic structure of language. Chomsky hypothesized that the language acquisition device was the system that determined the features of the child's native language. This falls under the realm of the nativist theory of language which states that humans are born with the innate ability for acquiring language.

Linguistics

ABOUT GENERATIVE AND UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR

He made a difference between the unconscious innate knowledge that people have about their language structure and the way they use it. He named ´competence´ to the action that allow people to distinguish grammatical statements of the ones that are not and to understand and generate unlimited new statements. He called ´performance´ to the competence presence, and the sentences done by the speakers. We think that is very important know how the human can communicate their ideas, how people can improve the way that they speak with other people and how can learn more about the correct use of language.

Chomsky postulated the existence of syntactic innate structures that allow the children to acquire the language rapidly and inexplicably. The language is learned by repetition and practice. He illustrated the last conception with the speed that children learn languages rapidly. It is something not possible unless children have an innate capability to learning them.  About how children can learn and develop the language is a point that everybody wants to know because sometimes we can´t understand why children have difficulties in language but study with them we can find a form that can help us to improve the language in general.

We have to understand that something very important in the language is the knowledge because is described as the skills acquired by a person through experience, education and the practical application or understanding of a subject. The Oxford dictionary describes knowledge as facts, information acquired as well as the theoretical and practical understanding of a subject.

Traditionally, schools have been used as an instrument to transmit knowledge; however Chomsky opines that the skills and knowledge taught are often not worthwhile. "The goal of education", according to Noam Chomsky, "is to produce human beings whose values are not accumulation and domination, but instead are free association on equal terms."

According to Chomsky there is an instrumental approach to education. It is characterized as mindless, meaningless drills and exercise given "in preparation for multiple choice exams". This is evident through the state mandated curriculum where standardized tests are necessary to measure student growth and educational success. Chomsky argues that "the value of education should be placed on students' critical thinking skills and the process of gaining useful and applicable knowledge". However Chomsky's view of the factory model of education is that students are mandated to adhere to state written curricula where standardized tests are necessary. Students are inadvertently pushed to learn through memorization of facts, rather than through critical thinking.

Chomsky suggests that society simply reduces education to the requirement of the market. Students are trained to be compliant workers. The education process is reduced to knowledgeable educators who transfer information to those who don't know rather than to help students formulate higher level thinking skills on their own.

Chomsky complains that children are not taught to challenge and think independently, yet they are taught to repeat, follow orders and obey. Education is described as a period of regimentation and control, with a system of false beliefs. Based on these analyses, the goals of education should be to encourage the development of the child's natural capacity.

Chomsky's theory of Generative Grammar is a way of describing the way people learn to communicate. The core of this theory is the idea that all human language originates from a common source, an innate set of grammatical rules and approaches that is hardwired into the human mind. This is a very naturalistic approach, but one that has found ever increasing acceptance amongst experts in the field (Chomsky, 1986).

His fundamental approach to knowledge is very similar to that used in Information Processing Theory. According to Chomsky, in order for knowledge to be retained, there must be previous knowledge already present for the new information to be associated with. He typically refers to this process as "building" on prior knowledge, but it has obvious parallels with the "networking" described by IPT.

Chomsky affirms that a universal grammar exists and that it is part of human genetic. He says that when human born everyone possesses a linguistic mould where all languages are adapted.  This capability is present only in humans. He says that human’s don´t born ´determine´ for any particular language – for example, a Chinese baby who is raised up in USA will speak English as a Native American. So in this way, there is a universal grammar that is present in all languages.

Learning

According to Chomsky, language defines what it means to be human and the study of language is a way in to the study of the human mind. "Although having a language is not a prerequisite for having a mind, language is overwhelmingly our best evidence for the nature of mind" (Smith, 1999). With regard to learning language, Chomsky purports that some aspects of language are explicitly taught in school such the spelling conventions of the written representation of language and forms of technical vocabulary; however, the most fundamental aspects of language are universal. We all know the same unique human language. This notion of universal grammar is the set of linguistic principles that we are endowed with at birth in virtue of being human (Smith, 1999). Chomsky also asserts that there is a genetically determined "window of opportunity" for language acquisition. If the child does not learn its first language during this period, then it will never attain full "native-like mastery" of any language (Smith, 1999). Chomsky has at many times presented many different kinds of evidence in favor of the claim that language is in large part genetically determined including the speed and age-dependence of acquisition. For example, it can be said that we do not need to "learn" that our language contains nouns and verbs; all language contains nouns and verbs (Smith, 1999). We do however; need to learn the noises within the language that are associated with nouns and verbs.

Chomsky also maintains that there is a biological entity, a finite mental organ that develops in children along one of a number of paths, which are determined in advance of any childhood experience. The language organ that emerges, the grammar, is represented in the brain and plays a central role in the person's use of language. Human language describes the distinctive qualities of the mind that are unique to man. The normal use of language can also be thought of as a creative activity. Chomsky notes that we do not understand and may never come to understand what makes it possible for normal human intelligence to use language as an instrument to convey thought and feeling.

With regard to learning, it can be summarized that knowledge grows and matures within us. Acquisition of knowledge is not something that we actively do, but yet something that happens to us.

The goal in teaching is to help cultivate growth and to help the students become interested in learning.

Political activism

Chomsky’s criticism of U.S. governmental policies has continued unabated since that time. In Deterring Democracy (1992) and in other books he has focused on trade and economic issues and accuses the Government of being a “rogue superpower.” “I’m a citizen of the United States,” says Chomsky, “and I have a share of responsibility for what it does. I’d like to see it act in ways that meet decent moral standards. It’s back to moral truisms: it’s of little value to criticize the crimes of someone else—though you should do it, and tell the truth. I have no influence over the policies of [other countries] but a certain degree over the policies of the U.S. It’s not a matter of expectation but of aspiration.”

Chomsky's believes, in very broad terms, that consensus is the mutual agreement of mankind when they assume the responsibility of managing and governing themselves in communities, workplaces and society. A given society reaches agreement or consensus through a cohesive collaboration that aspires to find mutual agreement among members of the community. The goal is to represent the ideals and concerns of the society versus the self-interest of any one dominating person, group or organization. Obviously, this is an extremely broad and idealized treatment of the phenomenon. Chomsky seems to think in very broad terms, though, even as he approaches specific societies.

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