Abraham Chomsky is one of the most famous contemporary linguists. A professor in linguistics, he is also a philosopher, publicist and theorist. Noam Chomsky invented the modern classification of the languages of the world, which is called the Chomsky Hierarchy. Now the scientist is almost 90 years old, and he continues to teach at the Massachusetts Institute, gives interviews to journalists, writes lectures and reviews.
What is the revolutionary views of Chomsky
It is believed that all linguistics is divided into two large eras: before Chomsky Noam appeared in it, and after. In 1957, the scientific world was shocked by the published work of a scientist called Syntactic Structures. Previously, linguists around the world were engaged only in the fact that they studied individual languages and their features. It never occurred to anyone before that language should be perceived, first of all, as an innate feature of a person of any race or nationality. In addition, it is the same tool for understanding the world around us, such as vision.
Linguistics as the main area of interest of a scientist
Noam Chomsky, whose quotes are known all over the world, asks provocative and controversial questions in his research. How canto understand why children in any country of the world learn their native language so quickly? How is the child able to perceive speech separately from other noises of the surrounding world? How is it that no language differences affect the child's first language learning process? The scientist writes: “On a superficial examination, languages are strikingly different from each other. If someone comes into this room now and starts speaking Swahili, I won't understand a word. However, I recognize that it is a language.”
Citation in scientific circles
Among other things, Chomsky is known for his radical views on politics. The scientist is especially known for his sharp criticism of American foreign policy. One US newspaper, The New York Times Book Review, once made the following statement. According to the newspaper publisher, Noam Chomsky is one of the most important modern representatives of the intellectual elite of society. From 1980 to 1992, he was the most cited scientist living on earth. Overall, the researcher ranked eighth in terms of the frequency of use of citations. His surname is Slavic in origin. English speakers pronounce it in their own way: Chomsky.
Another area that has been influenced by the scientist's research is behaviorism. Noam Chomsky, whose generative grammar led to the decline of this trend in psychology, simultaneously became one of the founders of modern cognitive science. The main postulate of generative grammar is as follows: language is a part ofhuman genetic program.
Chomsky Noam and Politics
The scientist says: "In the privatization of many public services … there is a desire to privatize the feelings and mind of a person, to get complete control over him." The scientist argues his opinion by the fact that each taxpayer receives practically no benefits for his deductions. This applies to both education and he althcare. The scientist himself jokingly says that there are "several Chomsky Noams." “One of them is engaged in philosophy, the second is linguistics, and the third is politics,” says Avram Noam Chomsky.
Business or education
The scientist, seeing the danger in the privatization of education, writes: “A corporation is not a charitable society. The board of directors of a corporation has a legitimate reason to be a monster, an ethical monster. Its goal is to maximize profits for shareholders and depositors.” Chomsky Noam notes that when the field of teaching turns into a business structure, all this only leads to an increase in the layer of bureaucrats, and not to an improvement in the quality of education.
In universities, as if they were industrial enterprises, the number of managers is increasing. Thus, cheap teacher labor is used in educational institutions. At the same time, teachers are forced to hold on to their workplace and follow any instructions given to them by the administration.
The funds saved are directed togoals that are completely different from the educational process. Chomsky emphasizes that this practice is common not only in education. Where business rules, the entire burden of labor is shifted onto the shoulders of the people. The businessman, in fact, "rakes in the heat" with the wrong hands.
