The primary [task at hand for the Minimalist Program] is to show that the apparent richness and diversity of linguistic phenomena is illusory and epiphenomenal, the result of interaction of fixed principles under slightly varying conditions.
[N. Chomsky, 1995, The Minimalist Program, p.8.]
Chomsky has an irksome knack for aggravating and incensing most philologues with his pithy little aphorisms. And it is just this smug and dismissive tone of his that has usually prevented me from finishing any of his texts. I find myself agreeing more with Bach when he writes: “It used to be that linguists were enjoined to describe each language on its own terms. Now it is often presumed that all languages are basically the same.” Yes, indeed. In this paper, he writes mainly about the Sprachbund of the Pacific Northwest in all its wonderful and glorious linguistic diversity.
[via Semantics &c]
[Addendum 01/06/03: Marc Miyake over at Amaravati wrote some more (second half of the entry) about Bach and Chomsky. ]
Posted by jim at January 2, 2004 09:10 AM | TrackBack