Chomsky (was:Cognitive Linguistics, "The Language Instinct", and High-Functioning Autistics

Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:

> On Tue, 16 May 2006 23:12:24 +0100, And Rosta wrote:
>
> > I have heard Chomsky himself in an interview say that he is a monoglot.
> > (snip)
> Thanks, I feel somewhat vindicated by this.  This is apparently what the
> old canard about Chomsky not knowing foreign languages comes from.
>
> Of course, being a monoglot not necessarily means not knowing about
> foreign
> languages, it only means not mastering them. (snip)
I suspect he was making a precise distinction between being able to _speak_
other languages (monoglot vs. polyglot), as opposed to knowing (at least
something) about other/many languages (some would say that that defines a
Linguist :-) ).

Someone mentioned that he knew Hebrew-- indeed, that has to be the case;
IIRC his father was by all reports a noted scholar of things Hebrew/Jewish
(I seem to recall hearing that he was a rabbi, but am not sure about that),
and surely little Noam had a proper Jewish upbringing.

He is only 6 years older than me, and attended U.Penn. which, as a member of
the so-called Ivy League, in those days (late 40s) almost certainly would
have required evidence of foreign-language study (preferably Latin!) in high
school--as did all the Ivy League colleges, and many public/private
institutions. But no doubt a knowledge of Biblical Hebrew could have been
acceptable.

Furthermore, doctoral programs in the US (at least in the humanities) have
always required at least a reading knowledge of French and German before the
degree would be granted. (I managed to pass those requirements, but wouldn't
dare try to speak the languages :-(( )

But some of NC's more fanatical disciples did adopt a very anglocentric
attitude, and attempted (and by their lights succeeded) in forcing many
languages into a procrustean English-like TG model, with results that some
at the time found, and many now find, faintly ridiculous. Still and all, TG
and its subsequent avatars were a real advance over previous
item-and-arrangement/Stucturalist grammar, which had nothing to say about
the commonalities that do exist between languages. Also, by causing a
"paradigm shift" in linguistics, TG made possible all the newer
theories...which, of course, may or may not be a Good Thing :-)