What Chomsky doesn't get about child language
© Cartoonstock.com Noam Chomsky is widely regarded as an intellectual giant, responsible for a revolution in how people think about language. In a recent book by Chomsky and James McGilvray, the Science of Language, the foreword states : “It is particularly important to understand Chomsky’s views … not only because he virtually created the modern science of language by himself …. but because of what he and colleagues have discovered about language – particularly in recent years…” As someone who works on child language disorders, I have tried many times to read Chomsky in order to appreciate the insights that he is so often credited with. I regret to say that, over the years, I have come to the conclusion that, far from enhancing our understanding of language acquisition, his ideas have led to stagnation, as linguists have gone through increasingly uncomfortable contortions to relate facts about children’s language to his theories. The problem is that the th...