[RedRover]

What makes him a brilliant linguist? I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm curious. I find him difficult and unrewarding to read on any subject, and his theories on linguism seemed to me to be warmed over Jungism (language as as an innate kind of collective unconsciousness). But maybe I missed the boat.

[goonie4life9]

No one has been able to answer this for me (yet)- If Chomsky is such a brilliant linguist, why was his review of Skinner's (1957) Verbal Behavior so terrible (in other words, why was Skinner's book so over Chomsky's head)?

[RightWingAtheist]

He was the first to suggest that there was an innate "linguistic module" that instinctively allows us to acquire language. Unfortunately, he seems to think that pure intuition is sufficient for any form of knowledge.