--- Gregory Geboski <ggeboski at hotmail.com> wrote:
> << Language, not capacity for language, is a learned
> skill that shapes our consciousness. ... >>
>
> To call language acquisition "learning" in any
> meaningful sense of the word
> "learning" doesn't stand up to how language
> acquisition actually works. What
> Chomsky proved (and I stress the word *proved*,
> through an elegant
> mathematically-based reductio argument) is that
> humans *cannot* pick up all
> the rules for language through their environment; in
> fact, their exposure to
> language is relatively impoverished, and only
> through hypothesizing an
> internal language-generating organ (Chomsky's
> preferred word) can one
> explain this infinitely-generating marvel known as
> human language.
>
> My reference to the ass-kicking was meant in fun,
Mine too, but one can't be sure of perception when translating language through the medium of writing ;-)
> but it should be noted
> that Chomsky is in fact unsentimentally ruthless
> with any intellectual challenger ... So watch out...
>
Yeah, but what kind of beer does he like. I'd rather listen to my (current) governor give a speech than hang out with a coors-light drinker.
Adam
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