Noam Chomsky
Also known as Avram Noam Chomsky
American linguist and political critic, born 1928; founded generative grammar.
At a glance
Main ideas
Generative grammar, Universal grammar, Against behaviourism …
See all 5Criticism
The Faurisson affair, Cambodia and Bosnia, Peter Collier and David Horowitz
See all 3Books to start with
Syntactic Structures, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, American Power and the New Mandarins …
See all 4Connections
B. F. Skinner and American Power and the New Mandarins
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Chomsky is a linguist and philosopher often called the father of modern linguistics.
- His 1957 book Syntactic Structures and his theories of generative and universal grammar reshaped the field and helped start the cognitive revolution.
- He taught at MIT from 1955 and is now a laureate professor at the University of Arizona.
- From the late 1960s he became a prominent critic of US foreign policy, capitalism and the mass media.
Why it matters
- He changed how linguistics and cognitive science think about language, and he is one of the most cited living authors and a leading voice of the American left.
Key facts
- Born
- 7 Dec 1928, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania1
- Education
- University of Pennsylvania (MA 1951); Harvard Society of Fellows from 1951 to 1955; doctorate in 1955, supervised by Zellig Harris1
- MIT
- From 1955; full professor from 1961; retired in 2002 as institute professor emeritus1
- Arizona
- Laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona1
- Output
- More than 150 books1
- Academies
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences1
- Awards
- Sydney Peace Prize (2011); US Peace Prize (2011)1
Main ideas
-
Generative grammar1
Language is described by rules that generate its sentences; he also proposed the Chomsky hierarchy and the minimalist program.
-
Universal grammar1
Humans share an innate capacity for language.
-
Against behaviourism1
Behaviourism underplayed human creativity in learning language.
-
The responsibility of intellectuals1
His 1967 essay against the Vietnam War made him a public dissident.
-
The propaganda model1
With Edward S. Herman in Manufacturing Consent (1988): news is filtered without official censorship.
Criticism
-
The Faurisson affair1
His defence of the free speech of Robert Faurisson, whose position is widely characterised as Holocaust denial, caused major controversy in the 1980s.
-
Cambodia and Bosnia1
His commentary on the Cambodian and Bosnian genocides also drew controversy.
-
Peter Collier and David Horowitz1
In The Anti-Chomsky Reader (2004), accused him of cherry-picking facts to fit his theories.
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
-
Syntactic Structures1
The book that made his name in linguistics.
-
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax1
A development of his linguistic theory.
-
American Power and the New Mandarins1
His first political book, against the Vietnam War.
-
Manufacturing Consent1
With Edward S. Herman; the propaganda model of the media.
Connections
Related
- B. F. SkinnerPerson
His critique of Skinner's account of language helped bring down linguistic behaviourism 1
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
Is something on this page wrong or out of date? Tell us
The line under a date fills as time passes: empty when new, then one equal share each for a day, a week, a month and a year. For episodes and other items it is full at 2 years; for "last checked", at a year. A striped line means the date is known only to the month or year.