B.S.A.E.U, B.Ed, Semester-I, Course-IV, Language theory (Mentalistic) of Noam Chomsky

Birth- One of the 20th century's linguists, philosophers, sociologists and logicians, Avram Noam Chomsky was born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even at the age of 94, he continues to enrich us in various areas related to language. His father was William Chomsky and his mother was Elsie Simonofsky.  

Education- Chomsky's education was mainly in America. After primary and secondary education, he started studying at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945. From here, he received his bachelor's degree in 1949, his master's degree in 1951 and his Ph.D. degree in 1955.

Career- In 1955, Chomsky held the Ferrari P. Ward position in Modern Languages and Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has been working here for a long time.  He worked as a visiting professor at Columbia University. In 1966, he worked as a professor at the Linguistic Society of America. He also took up the profession of a political observer. Although a linguist, he was equally interested in mathematics, psychology, philosophy of mind, politics, ethics, etc.

Special achievements-

• In the 1960s, many American newspapers gave him the title of the best intellectual.
• In 1966, he worked as a professor at the Linguistic Society of America.
• From 1995 to 2000, he spoke on various political issues.
• In 2011, Chomsky received the ‘David Memorial Lecture on Academic Freedom’ award.
• In addition, Chomsky is considered the ‘father of creative grammar’, the most important theory in philosophical linguistics of the 20th century.

Writings- Linguist Chomsky has written more than 100 books to date.  Some of his notable books are-

1) Syntactic  Structure (1957)

2) Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (1964)

3) Language and mind (1968)

4) On the Power and Ideology (1987)

5) On Nature and Language (2001)

6) On Nature and Language (2001) etc.

Chomsky’s Theory of Language Development:

i)Transformational Generative Grammar:- This is the theory of creative grammar. Language is not a mechanical process, it is a creative matter that is associated with the creative consciousness of man. According to Chomsky, the mind of a native speaker masters the basic principles of language with the help of his simple understanding and comprehension;  Then, applying that basic principle, he creates new sentences according to the needs of new situations by giving his creative power to the limited resources of language.

ii) Parameter Setting Model:- Immediately after birth, any human child carries the nature of language and elements related to language acquisition in his brain. Later, he learns the right language at the right time.

iii) Language Faculty:- Chomsky has called the innate ability of humans to naturally acquire language as Language Faculty. He believes that this Language Faculty of a human being is made up of many small independent elements.

iv) Cognitive Psychology:- As people grow older, they feel the need to learn language and try to acquire language. Chomsky has called this part of human behavior Cognitive Psychology.

v) Chomsky’s research on Grammar:-According to Chomsky, just as language is a creative process, grammar is also a creative discovery. In the discussion of grammar, he has shown the application of two theories-

(A) Sentence formation theory- Chomsky's method of analyzing sentences in his grammar makes the relationship between sound and meaning clear and the ambiguity of sentences is detected.

'The Mughal emperor Babur was the first hero of the Battle of Panipat'.

The sentence has multiple meanings. In this case, it is not clear which part of the sentence is most closely related to the first word. Here it is seen that there is a variation in the closeness of words in a sentence.

(B) Universal theory- Chomsky's important theory of grammar is the theory of linguistic universality.  Although each language has its own characteristics, its number of root sounds, verb system, and even the rules of word form and form and sentence formation are different, yet there are some common religions among all languages and there is some fundamental unity in the grammar of all languages. Despite the diversity of human nature, there is a fundamental unity in the language process and grammar of all nations. Therefore, it can be said that although the external structure of the sentence structure of one language differs from the sentence structure of another language, if you observe their deep level, an internal unity will be detected. In this case, if you compare the two languages, the matter will be clearer. Here, the same sentence is analyzed in English and Bengali languages-

VI) Performative Theory:- Performative refers to a special utterance or expression that carries a message or meaning in itself. For example, ‘I am going to the market’ – the meaning or expression of this sentence is not completely revealed. Because the purpose of the sentence is not clear here. But if it is said ‘I am going to the market to buy fish’, then the meaning or expression will be complete.  So when a verb or expression carries the message of action, it is called a performative verb.