So, people more familiar with C's linguistics, I'm curious. On p. 126 the author of the article writes: "Chomsky, however, believed that culture played little role in the study of language, and that going to far-flung places to record the arcane babel of near-extinct tongues was a pointless exercise."
Is this an accurate assessment? It makes little sense to me, to be so scientific, and yet uninterested in empirical testing. I'm finding it really hard to believe that this is a fair characterization. Is there a better, perhaps more flattering way, to characterize C's views here?
If you didn't get the offlist, btw Carrol, thanks again for the pointer. This is, indeed, an interesting read.
Bitch | Lab http://blog.pulpculture.org (NSFW)