Noam Chomsky changed dramatically not only the flow of the linguistic science, but also psychology and political science. He is considered to be one of the most prominent scholars of his generation, who revolutionized the modern perception of how we learn, think and talk. Being in a quite respectable age (87) Noam Chomsky leads active scientific and political life.
Background
Since his very childhood, Noam Chomsky was an extraordinary child. At the age of ten he wrote a scientific article on the dangers of fascism in Europe. As he tells in his interview his interest for language could be traced to that times when he used to read Modern Hebrew literature with his father. His father was also a scientist, so Noam Chomsky learned at the very young age the basics of grammar and language from his father’s works. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1945, where his greatest influence was his professor of linguistics Zellig S. Harris. Further influence on the forming of his area of scholarship was made by Nelson Goodman, Nathan Salmon and mathematician Nathan Fine with whom he studied philosophy. From that time on he took a great interest in the sociocultural facet of language. He obtained his education at the University of Pennsylvania with a PhD in linguistics. In his early surveys as a junior fellow at Harvard University, the scientist revealed his unique approach to linguistics, by combining linguistic structuralism, philosophy and psychology creating something absolutely new. Later on he started his teaching career in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where in 1961 he received the position of a full-time professor of the Modern Languages and Linguistics department (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). Moreover, Chomsky published a number of essays on the hot social and political issues taking place at that time. He fiercely criticized the Vietnam War. In 1949 N. Chomsky married Carol Schatz. He is a father of three children (Biography.com, 2016).
The years spent in MTI have strongly influenced Noam Chomsky’s political views, which he shared with his university professors. The factors that pushed him to participate in the political discourse of his day is the curiosity and unconventional educational background, owing to which he was exposed to the variety of views and political mainstreams. Noam Chomsky is best known for his revolutionary influence on the perception of natural language and cognitive abilities of man to obtain language skills. In his research he was first to prove and foster the theory of purely humane origins of language stemming from the nature of a human being. Contrarily to the views of other scientists of that time, who thought the human brain to obtain language skills from scratch without any cognitive background, Chomsky claimed that the basic linguistic structures were inherent and innate. He believed that the environment of the child has a major impact on the formation of the basic grammar structure in line with principles of language (Biography.com, 2016). Accordingly, the process of acquiring language skills equally well by adults and children was passible by unconscious investigating formal structures of the universal grammar. Chomsky compares the ability to learn languages with the so-called setting of the necessary characteristics that enable a child to adapt his inborn structural linguistic basis to the necessities of a particular language (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016).
Furthermore, he studied variations of formal languages and their abilities to reflect traits of human languages. He generalized the hierarchy of grammatical structures in order to facilitate the creation of a model of human language. Owing to the universal system of grammar complex description of both external and abstract characteristics of language were made possible.These findings were successfully applied in computer sciences for constructing compliers.
Among others, the studies of psychology have always had a prominent place in his research of language. He challenged traditional behaviorism by posing his theory of nativism according to which all people possess inherent mechanisms of learning new languages. He classifies linguistics as a branch of cognitive psychology, emphasizing its relation to mental phenomena of a person’s individuality. One of the most outstanding works, Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, expresses Chomsky’s theory of transformational grammar (Biography.com, 2016).
It is actually hard to answer what would Noam Chomsky change, since he indeed thrived to change the view on the fundamental issues of linguistics and cognitive science dramatically. As he notes in his 2015 interview the methods applied by the previous generations of scientists were totally unacceptable and he dared to look on the problem from a different angle. He was not satisfied with the approach the linguists used to studying language, so he managed to device a radically new vision of the field of study. The demands of the particular branch of science made Noam Chomsky constantly question and consider conventional approaches and thus for the sake of scientific progress look for new theories and concepts, in order to back his views (Polychroniou, 2015).
Political activity
Regardless of his outstanding scientific achievements, he received notoriety for his political activity. He is one of the most outstanding figures of the left wing of American politics. His views can be best described as libertarian socialistic. Noam Chomsky studies political propaganda transmitted via the sources of mass media. His political discourse is focused on the role of intellectuals in serving the society by creating the objective outlook of the events and social processes in order to enable great masses to affect positive changes and make their own conclusions (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). To prove this allegations a number of his papers explained the ways media approach to reporting the same events in different light. One of his most sophisticated analytical works on political issues touches upon the ins and outs of the circumstances which finally led to the events of 9-11 in the USA. He once claimed: “We shouldn't be looking for heroes; we should be looking for good ideas.” This idea and his objectiveness towards the most disputable issues make me deeply admire his work.
Influence
Noam Chomsky resents public appraisals and prefers facts to talk for him. As a matter of fact, Chomsky's contributions to the field of cognitive linguistics without any exaggerations have had a guideline for a number of the researchers in the field of child language acquisition. He proved that despite the variety of languages there is indeed a single language with unified structure.
In some of his interviews and public speeches he addresses young people and beginning scholars. He encourages the youth to dream boldly, to approach critically all the developments of the world and to look for the best and most efficient ways to fulfill their work. His single-mindedness now is the matter of a legend, especially when his lack of personal compromise facilitated his greatest findings. He illustrates the necessity of having enough courage by his own life experience, when as a graduate student at Harvard Noam went against the dogmatic view on language as a visual system. On the contrary, his work and further research granted proofs that it was inherent, what was then adopted by cognitive psychology and psychology of learning (Polychroniou, 2015).
As a political thinker he constantly claims that there is a way for the new generation to build the civilized and better world, based on the principles of humanity and the rule of law (The Life of Noam Chomsky, 2014). Modern psychology widely applies the notion of the working of mind, which was started by Noam Chomsky. Actually, the fact that Chomsky is one of the most cited authors ever is utterly emblematic. He was the first to substantiate the structural meaning of the language units, the philosophy of human learning and intellectual capabilities. He is an influential person in popular culture. Whatever future holds one thing is certain the contribution made by this outstanding scientist will not tarnish, as well as some further scientific breakthroughs are still to come. As he once said that the duty of intellectuals is to express truth and uncover lies, and that is the exact thing that Noam Chomsky is doing over his lifetime.
References
Biography.com,. (2016). Retrieved 27 February 2016, from http://www.biography.com/people/noam-chomsky-37616#professorial-career
Encyclopedia Britannica,. (2016). Noam Chomsky | American linguist. Retrieved 27 February 2016, from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Noam-Chomsky
The Life of Noam Chomsky. (2014). YouTube.
Polychroniou, C. (2015). The Empire of Chaos: An Interview With Noam Chomsky. Truthout. Retrieved from http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33519-the-empire-of-chaos-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky
