Chomsky -- Put up or blah blah

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Tue Mar 28 13:25:52 PST 2000


Scott Martens wrote:
>>>Mmmm... Well, I actually agree with Chomsky's analysis of behaviourism,
>>>at least with regard to linguistics. The "poverty of stimulus" agrument
>>>is one of the good things I am willing to give Chomsky credit for.
>>>There aren't many people left who don't agree, in princile, with the
>>>inateness hypothesis of language. I'm not very happy with the kinds of
>>>universals Chomsky thinks exist, or the mechanisms he is trying to
>>>ascribe to language, but human brains are clearly intended to learn
>>>langauge.<<<

Since the discussion concerns language, grammar, etc., allow me to point out a problem of the passive voice in the above: "human brains are clearly intended to learn langauge." Intended by whom? God?

Yoshie



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