乔姆斯基简评

摘 要：著名语言学家乔姆斯基，被誉为当代认知科学之父，为语言学发展做出了杰出贡献。然而，一些消极评价也纷至沓来。本文从其对语言学的贡献出发来探讨其个性特征，旨在展示这一伟大人物人性之辉煌与其贡献一样让世人叹服。

关键词：乔姆斯基；语言学贡献；个性特征

Abstract:Noam Chomsky, a fantastic figure in modern society, has made great contributions to the development of linguistics. However, some negative comments also come along with those positive ones. This paper discusses Chomsky in terms of both his contributions and his characters, which aims to display a clear picture to more Chomsky fans.

Key words:Chomsky;linguistic contributions;characters

On Chomsky

1. Introduction

Noam Chomsky，as one of the greatest linguists, makes a lot contributions to the research of human language and linguistics. Beginning with his Syntactic Structures, a distillation of his Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory (1955, 75), he challenges structural linguistics and introduces transformational grammar. This approach takes utterances (sequences of words) to have a syntax characterized by a formal grammar, especially a context-free grammar extended with transformational rules. However, his greatness lies not only in his great contributions, but also in his distinguished characteristics.

2. Contributions and characters of Chomsky

2.1 Courage to challenge other authorities

Chomsky had been strictly trained by post-structuralism, and he also learned a lot about traditional linguistics from his teacher Zellig Harris. During his college time, he even wrote a thesis to support Bloomfield School; however, as time went on, he gradually began to question what he has accepted from Structuralism. He tried to put forward a different concept-to separate linguistic theory from the language we actually use. The facts that people use language are so familiar that we always tend to take them for granted as not requiring explanation. But, Chomsky is different; he persists in his exploring on the study of language. In the 1950s, Chomsky began developing his theory of generative grammar, which has undergone numerous revisions and later has had a profound influence on linguistics. His approach to the study of language emphasizes "an innate set of linguistic principles shared by all humans" known as "universal grammar". He put these ideas in his Syntactic Structures, which then laid the groundwork for the concept of transformational grammar. That is why so many people admire him, and what we should learn from him.

2.2 Courage to deny self-achievements

Secondly, Chomsky is a man who is never satisfied with his own achievements and he is constantly exploring and questioning not only others' but also his own theory. After his Syntactic Structures was published, he didn't think it is an ending to his exploration, and gradually he found several serious problems which should be re-discussed and solved. According to his theory, many sentences seem to be probably transformed without much limitation and may even produce absolutely different sentences. Then, American linguists J.J.Katz and P.M.Postal pointed out that the original meaning of a sentence should not be altered after transformation and that a sentence can be analyzed from its deep structure as well as from its surface structure. Some of the transformed sentences are even not acceptable in meaning. So Chomsky realized that his theory needs improvement and he accepted others' suggestions to take the component of semantics into consideration in his transforming rules; we can see that in his Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. On the other hand, his improvement also includes the point of generative phonology，Relational Notions and Categorial Notions etc. Besides, Chomsky published Lectures on Government and Binding in 1981, which put forward the important theory of syntactic research--Government and Binding Theory, GB Theory. So far, it can be perceived as the book that has the most significant influence on the development of syntactic theory. This theory, although it is still in the process of revision and improvement, opens a new door in front of us and it directs our attention to another new field of language-that is "Empty Category".