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Quote by Noam Chomsky

“There is undoubtedly much to learn about the social uses of language, for communication or for other purposes. But at present there is not much in the way of a theory of sociolinguistics, of social uses of languages, as far as I am aware.”

Quote by Noam Chomsky

Author

Noam Chomsky, born on December 7, 1928, is a renowned linguist from the United States. His research in generative grammar and transformational grammar has had a profound impact on modern linguistics. Chomsky's academic achievements extend beyond linguistics, as he is also an active political commentator and philosopher, known for his unique perspective and profound insights. more

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“I think the most important work that is going on has to do with the search for very general and abstract features of what is sometimes called universal grammar: general properties of language that reflect a kind of biological necessity rather than logical necessity; that is, properties of language that are not logically necessary for such a system but which are essential invariant properties of human language and are known without learning. We know these properties but we don't learn them. We simply use our knowledge of these properties as the basis for learning.”

Thinking Knows Humans Kind Important Sometimes Use Language Known Essentials Universal Bases Property Features Abstract Logical Grammar Human Language Important Work

Author:Noam Chomsky

“I'm a very positive person, but this whole concept of having to always be nice, always smiling, always happy, that's not real. It was like I was wearing a mask. I was becoming this perfectly chiselled sculpture, and that was bad. That took a long time to understand.”

Persons Long Real Whole Nice Becoming Long Time Concepts Mask Being Nice Sculpture Always Happy Very Positive Always Smile Positive Person Wearing A Mask Always Be Nice

Author:Alicia Keys

“In fact, by universal grammar I mean just that system of principles and structures that are the prerequisites for acquisition of language, and to which every language necessarily conforms.”

Mean Facts Language Principles Universal Structure Conform Grammar Acquisition Prerequisites

Author:Noam Chomsky

“You can imagine a different world in which a number of species developed with different genetically determined linguistic systems. It hasn't happened in evolution. What has happened is that one species has developed, and the genetic structure of this species happens to involve a variety of intricate abstract principles of linguistic organization that, therefore, necessarily constrain every language, and, in fact, create the basis for learning language as a way of organizing experience rather than constituting something learned from experience.”

“For one thing, studying language is by itself a part of a study of human intelligence that is, perhaps, the central aspect of human nature. And second, I think, it is a good model for studying other human properties, which ought to be studied by psychologists in the same way.”

Thinking Way Humans Language Study One Thing Human Nature Ought Models Aspect Property Psychologist Human Intelligence

Author:Noam Chomsky

“One thing that you and I know is language. Another thing that you and I know is how objects behave in perceptual space. We have a whole mass of complex ways of understanding what is the nature of visual space. A proper part of psychology ought to be, and in recent years has been, an effort to try to discover the principles of how we organize visual space. I would say that the same is true of every domain of psychology, of human studies.”

Knows Way Trying Years Humans Has Beens Whole Language Understanding Space Effort Principles Study Psychology One Thing Objects Ought Mass Complexes Behave Visuals Organize Domain

Author:Noam Chomsky

“To understand how people organize social systems, we have to discover the principles that we create to make some societies intelligible.”

People Social Principles Organize Social Systems

Author:Noam Chomsky

“I think that as human beings, we quite naturally take for granted what is similar among human beings and, then, pay attention to what differentiates us. That makes perfect sense for us as human beings.”

Thinking Humans Human Beings Perfect Pay Attention Granted Pay Attention Differentiate

Author:Noam Chomsky

“I suppose frogs pay no attention to being frogs. They take it for granted. What interests a frog are differences among frogs. From our point of view they are more or less the same, from their point of view they are all radically different.”

Different Interest Differences Views Pay Attention Point Of View Granted Frogs

Author:Noam Chomsky

“For us, we are all very different, our languages are very different, and our societies are very different. But if we could extract ourselves from our point of view and sort of look down at human life the way a biologist looks at other organisms, I think we could see it a different way.”

Ifs Thinking Way Humans Looks Different Language Views Point Of View Human Life Different Ways Our Society Organisms Biologist

Author:Noam Chomsky