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To: chilepepper
Chomsky's *REAL* game with linguistics isn't to 'discover' an existing universal grammar, rather IMHO is to IMPOSE one

The antidote to liberal ideology is not conservative idiology [sic]. It is rational debate. If you had even passing familiarity with several rather unrelated languages you would also be struck by the similarities in structure between them. For instance, we and the Arabs use prepositions in similar fashion? Why is that? I guess because of fundamental features of human cognition, which is what a "universal" grammar is expressive of. I am curious about the explanation for these things. I presume that you are not. That is fine - but don't count yourself a member of the republic of ideas, even conservative ones.

If one were to believe the great Alan Bloom, the language of the Marxists is a kind of educated German that uses enormously long words that none of the rest of us understand. So, that is the grammar that Noam Chomsky would be trying to impose on us, I suppose. Personally, I have seen no evidence of that.

32 posted on 03/15/2003 6:57:42 AM PST by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson
I speak fluent Spanish, a fair bit of Japanese, German, French and Russian.

The human brain is the human brain. If you want to try to express human language in terms of a 'universal grammar', be my guest. I'll do it in PERL, or perhaps FORTRAN, or perhaps in mythological terms.

SO, which of these is 'CORRECT'??

68 posted on 03/15/2003 9:52:16 AM PST by chilepepper (If at first you don't succeed, skydiving isn't for you!)
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