Berichten: 58
Taal: English
Miland (Profiel tonen) 9 maart 2011 18:06:45
T0dd:This is a work by a scientist, writing for other scientists .. it manages to present Esperanto pretty accurately and objectively, in very good detail, to a scientific audience..That being the case, I imagine Noam Chomsky might have heard about it. Do you know whether he has expressed an opinion? Possibly one could email him a copy!
T0dd (Profiel tonen) 9 maart 2011 18:22:07
Miland:Maybe, but why would one want to do that? I imagine Chomsky has received communications from Esperantists for most of his life. I think he has made it pretty clear where he stands, and I doubt there's much to be gained by goading him further.T0dd:This is a work by a scientist, writing for other scientists .. it manages to present Esperanto pretty accurately and objectively, in very good detail, to a scientific audience..That being the case, I imagine Noam Chomsky might have heard about it. Do you know whether he has expressed an opinion? Possibly one could email him a copy!
A monograph like this would probably be more profitably read by linguists in training, such as our friend razlem.
Miland (Profiel tonen) 9 maart 2011 18:35:12
T0dd:As the poem goes, ni semas kaj semas konstante. Maybe I should, if (or even in case) no-one else has!Miland:Possibly one could email him a copy!Maybe, but why would one want to do that?
adrideo (Profiel tonen) 9 maart 2011 20:24:54
Miland:I imagine Noam Chomsky might have heard about it. Do you know whether he has expressed an opinion? Possibly one could email him a copy!I could certainly guess what his opinion is! Corpus linguistics is pretty anti-Chomskian.
sudanglo (Profiel tonen) 9 maart 2011 23:01:50
They don't do experiments to test theories about the nature of the world. They are more like old-fashioned botanists endlessly pre-occupied with classification.
However by the standards of the linguistic community, I am sure that the work in question would be treated as suitably academic.
razlem (Profiel tonen) 9 maart 2011 23:46:54
sudanglo:They are more like old-fashioned botanists endlessly pre-occupied with classification.._.
Which language is this site written in?
T0dd (Profiel tonen) 10 maart 2011 00:44:51
sudanglo:Please Todd - linguists are not scientists.Of course, they're scientists, and of course they do experiments, test hypoyheses, and all that good stuff. Maybe you should actually read some linguistics. The old-style classification people were the philologists.
They don't do experiments to test theories about the nature of the world. They are more like old-fashioned botanists endlessly pre-occupied with classification.
Linguistics is a social science, so its research methods are naturally more appropriate to the social sciences. But that's a dispute for another thread, or another site.
adrideo (Profiel tonen) 10 maart 2011 01:10:52
T0dd:Thanks for the defense, Todd. I was going to say something of that ilk, but now I won't have to. :]
Of course, they're scientists, and of course they do experiments, test hypotheses, and all that good stuff. Maybe you should actually read some linguistics. The old-style classification people were the philologists.
Linguistics is a social science, so its research methods are naturally more appropriate to the social sciences. But that's a dispute for another thread, or another site.
Heading back to the original topic: I've taken a quick glance at the paper, though not yet read it through. It's interesting how long he's spent comparing Esperanto to creoles.
hoss (Profiel tonen) 10 maart 2011 01:36:48
It's helpful to remember that Chomsky studies Language in general as a psychological phenomenon: he's interested in what native languages can reveal about how the mind works. That's quite different from an interest in becoming fluent in any one particular language, and it means he has little reason to care about Esperanto, which is overwhelmingly a second language.
Chomsky has been pestered over the years by a number of Esperantists urging him to learn the language, and he's made it clear that he doesn't have the time or inclination. If for some odd reason he ever wants to learn more about Esperanto, he will – without our help.
Miland (Profiel tonen) 10 maart 2011 10:04:54
hoss:Chomsky has been pestered over the years by a number of Esperantists..Objection noted. The problem with not sending* it to him, however, is that he will not then be in a position to choose whether to look at it at all. But, bearing in mind what you said, I will try to make the suggestion nicely.
*After the 20th, as he's out of the U.S. just now. There's a good podcast of a BBC interview here.