Generative Grammar's Grave Foundational Errors /
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 fundament...
Main Author:
Format: eBook
Language: English
Published:
Leiden ; Boston :
Brill,
2025.
Series:
Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory ;
27.
Language and Linguistics E-Books Online, Collection 2025.
Subjects:
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Call Number: P57.I4
| Summary: | 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. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (176 pages) : illustrations. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9789004730922 |