Some Core Contested Concepts

Core concepts of language are highly contested. In some cases this is legitimate: real empirical and conceptual issues arise. In other cases, it seems that controversies are based on misunderstanding. A number of crucial cases are reviewed, and an approach to language is outlined that appears to hav...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chomsky, Avram Noam
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer US 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103525
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3632-2461
Description
Summary:Core concepts of language are highly contested. In some cases this is legitimate: real empirical and conceptual issues arise. In other cases, it seems that controversies are based on misunderstanding. A number of crucial cases are reviewed, and an approach to language is outlined that appears to have strong conceptual and empirical motivation, and to lead to conclusions about a number of significant issues that differ from some conventional beliefs.