Noam Chomsky has been described as ‘arguably the most important intellectual alive’. His revolutionary work in linguistics has aroused intense scholarly interest, while his trenchant critique of United States foreign policy and his incisive analysis of the role of intellectuals in modern society have made him a prominent public figure. Raphael Salkie’s timely book introduces the two parts of Chomsky’s work and explores the connections between them. He provides an accessible and up-to-date introduction to Chomsky’s linguistics, laying out his basic assumptions and aims – in particular, his consistent drive to make linguistics a science – and looking at a sample of Chomsky’s recent work. He examines the implications for other fields such as philosophy and psychology, as well as the main challenges to Chomsky’s position. Raphael Salkie also sets out the key themes in Chomsky’s political writings and his libertarian socialist views. He contrasts the ‘official line’ on US foreign policy – the view that the US is a ‘well-meaning, blundering giant’ – with Chomsky’s carefully argued alternative view. By focusing on Chomsky’s conception of human nature and human freedom the author draws out the links between the two sides of Chomsky’s work, in the belief that both sides raise issues which can profitably be explored. The author also provides a carefully annotated guide to further reading. As an experienced teacher of linguistics with a commitment to political activism, Raphael Salkie is uniquely qualified to present this introduction to one of the seminal thinkers of our time. First published in 1990.

Is the study of language ideologically neutral? If so, is this study objective and autonomous? One of the most cherished assumptions of modern academic linguistics is that the study of language is, or should be, ideologically neutral. This professed ideological neutrality goes hand-in-hand with claims of scientific objectivity and explanatory autonomy. Ideologies of Language counters these claims and assumptions by demonstrating not only their descriptive inaccuracy but also their conceptual incoherence.

The academic discipline of linguistics is at a critical stage of development. Whatever consensus there may have been fifteen or even ten years ago is fast disappearing. A process of redefinition is underway, and it is the aim of this volume to contribute to that process, explain why a redefinition is needed, and how it should proceed. In the case of linguistics the subject is also the subject matter. Many linguists have ignored the problem of definition, simply regarding linguistics as the ‘science of language itself’. What, though, is ‘language itself’? Is it a language, ie English, Swahili? Or, language in a more general sense? The primary goal of a redefinition of linguistics should be to demonstrate that language is not an objective matter. Linguistics is, and should be, the study of whatever is linguistically pertinent. A linguistics redefined would look at how we interpret and construct our day-to-day communication acts, what views of language are shared by and opposed by societies, and the source and roles that these views play in our living and learning experience. These papers argue the case for such a redefinition more explicitly than has ever been done before in modern linguistic theory. Such a redefined perspective, precisely because it is a perspective, subject to ‘outside’ influence, and in constant dialogue with the perspective of the other human sciences, must be endlessly redefined.

Table of contents

This handbook provides a critical guide to the most central proposition in modern linguistics: the notion, generally known as Universal Grammar, that a universal set of structural principles underlies the grammatical diversity of the world's languages. Part I considers the implications of Universal Grammar for philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, and examines the history of the theory. Part II focuses on linguistic theory, looking at topics such as explanatory adequacy and how phonology and semantics fit into Universal Grammar. Parts III and IV look respectively at the insights derived from UG-inspired research on language acquisition, and at comparative syntax and language typology, while part V considers the evidence for Universal Grammar in phenomena such as creoles, language pathology, and sign language. The book will be a vital reference for linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists.

Linguistics has become an empirical science again after several decades when it was preoccupied with speakers' hazy "intuitions" about language structure. With a mixture of English-language case studies and more theoretical analyses, Geoffrey Sampson gives an overview of some of the new findings and insights about the nature of language which are emerging from investigations of real-life speech and writing, often (although not always) using computers and electronic language samples ("corpora"). Concrete evidence is brought to bear to resolve long-standing questions such as "Is there one English language or many Englishes?" and "Do different social groups use characteristically elaborated or restricted language codes?" Sampson shows readers how to use some of the new techniques for themselves, giving a step-by-step "recipe-book" method for applying a quantitative technique that was invented by Alan Turing in the World War II code-breaking work at Bletchley Park and has been rediscovered and widely applied in linguistics fifty years later.