(OT) Chomsky (Re: [tlug] Is linguistics OT at all?)

[Tapio Peltonen <tappel@example.com>]

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004, Josh Glover wrote:

>We could, and it is no coincidence that many geeks (especially geeks with
>formal Computer Science backgrounds) are quite interested in linguistics.
>Noam Chomsky is a diety to both linguists and Computer Scientists (and, I
>suppose, radical left-wingers ;), after all.

Chomsky isn't considered a deity by all linguists, though. I come from a
different school, where generativist views are in general detested and
Chomsky's only real accomplishment is thought to be having brought the
focus of linguistic research to syntax in the fifties and sixties.

(Chomsky actually got his generativist ideas from Bloomfield, who, in
turn, was aware of Panini's linguistic tradition in India, where such
approach has been known for longer than two millennia.)

-- 
Tapio Peltonen <tappel@example.com>

This novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with
great force.
                -- Dorothy Parker