A Companion to Chomsky
1st Edition
Published on 22. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
640 pages
978-1-119-69528-8 (ISBN)
Description
Widely considered to be one of the most important public intellectuals of our time, Noam Chomsky has revolutionized modern linguistics. His thought has had a profound impact upon the philosophy of language, mind, and science, as well as the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science which his work helped to establish. Now, in this new Companion dedicated to his substantial body of work and the range of its influence, an international assembly of prominent linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists reflect upon the interdisciplinary reach of Chomsky's intellectual contributions.
Balancing theoretical rigor with accessibility to the non-specialist, the Companion is organized into eight sections-including the historical development of Chomsky's theories and the current state of the art, comparison with rival usage-based approaches, and the relation of his generative approach to work on linguistic processing, acquisition, semantics, pragmatics, and philosophy of language. Later chapters address Chomsky's rationalist critique of behaviorism and related empiricist approaches to psychology, as well as his insistence upon a "Galilean" methodology in cognitive science. Following a brief discussion of the relation of his work in linguistics to his work on political issues, the book concludes with an essay written by Chomsky himself, reflecting on the history and character of his work in his own words.
A significant contribution to the study of Chomsky's thought, A Companion to Chomsky is an indispensable resource for philosophers, linguists, psychologists, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and general readers with interest in Noam Chomsky's intellectual legacy as one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century.
Balancing theoretical rigor with accessibility to the non-specialist, the Companion is organized into eight sections-including the historical development of Chomsky's theories and the current state of the art, comparison with rival usage-based approaches, and the relation of his generative approach to work on linguistic processing, acquisition, semantics, pragmatics, and philosophy of language. Later chapters address Chomsky's rationalist critique of behaviorism and related empiricist approaches to psychology, as well as his insistence upon a "Galilean" methodology in cognitive science. Following a brief discussion of the relation of his work in linguistics to his work on political issues, the book concludes with an essay written by Chomsky himself, reflecting on the history and character of his work in his own words.
A significant contribution to the study of Chomsky's thought, A Companion to Chomsky is an indispensable resource for philosophers, linguists, psychologists, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and general readers with interest in Noam Chomsky's intellectual legacy as one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century.
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Other editions
Additional editions
Georges Rey | Nicholas Allott | Terje Lohndal
A Companion to Chomsky
Book
07/2021
1st Edition
Wiley
€188.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Nicholas Allott | Terje Lohndal | Georges Rey
A Companion to Chomsky
E-Book
04/2021
1st Edition
Wiley
€39.99
Available for download
Nicholas Allott | Terje Lohndal | Georges Rey
A Companion to Chomsky
E-Book
04/2021
1st Edition
Wiley
€38.99
Available for download
Persons
Nicholas Allott is Senior Lecturer in English Language at the University of Oslo. His work focuses on pragmatics, inference and rationality in communication, word meaning and lexical modulation, legal language and interpretation, and the philosophy of linguistics. His publications include Chomsky: Ideas and Ideals (with Neil Smith) (2016).
Terje Lohndal is Professor of English Linguistics at NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Adjunct Professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. His main areas of research are comparative grammar, multilingualism, and the history of generative linguistics. He has published numerous papers, and several books, among them, Phrase Structure and Argument Structure (2014).
Georges Rey is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland at College Park. He has written extensively on the foundations of cognitive science, including more than sixty articles and two books, Contemporary Philosophy of Mind (1997) and Representation of Language: Philosophical Issues in a Chomskyan Linguistics (2020).
Terje Lohndal is Professor of English Linguistics at NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Adjunct Professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. His main areas of research are comparative grammar, multilingualism, and the history of generative linguistics. He has published numerous papers, and several books, among them, Phrase Structure and Argument Structure (2014).
Georges Rey is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland at College Park. He has written extensively on the foundations of cognitive science, including more than sixty articles and two books, Contemporary Philosophy of Mind (1997) and Representation of Language: Philosophical Issues in a Chomskyan Linguistics (2020).
Content
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgments xv
1 Synoptic Introduction 1
Nicholas Allott, Terje Lohndal, and Georges Rey
2 BiographicalSketch 18
Nicholas Allott, Terje Lohndal, and Georges Rey
Part I Historical Development of Linguistics 23
3 From the Origins of Government and Binding to the Current State of Minimalism 25
Artemis Alexiadou and Terje Lohndal
4 The Enduring Discoveries of Generative Syntax 52
Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng and James Griffiths
5 The Chomsky Hierarchy 74
Tim Hunter
6 Naturalism, Internalism, and Nativism: The Legacy of The Sound Pattern of English 96
Charles Reiss and Veno Volenec
7 Language as a Branch of Psychology: Chomsky and Cognitive Science 109
Lila Gleitman Copyrighted Material
Part II Contemporary Issues in Syntax 123
8 The Architecture of the Computation 125
David Adger
9 Merge and Features: The Engine of Syntax 140
Peter Svenonius
10 On Chomsky's Legacy in the Study of Linguistic Diversity 158
Mark Baker
11 Parameters and Linguistic Variation 172
Michelle Sheehan
12 Constraints on Grammatical Dependencies 190
Gereon Müller
13 Chomsky's Influence on Historical Linguistics: From Universal Grammar to Third Factors 210
Elly van Gelderen
14 Second Language Acquisition 222
Roumyana Slabakova
15 Multilingualism and Chomsky's Generative Grammar 232
Tanja Kupisch, Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares, Eloi Puig-Mayenco, and Jason Rothman
Part III Comparisons with other Frameworks 243
16 The View from Declarative Syntax 245
Peter Sells
17 How Statistical Learning Can Play Well with Universal Grammar 267
Lisa S. Pearl
18 Chomsky and Usage-Based Linguistics 287
Frederick J. Newmeyer
Part IV Processing and Acquisition 305
19 Sentence Processing and Syntactic Theory 307
Dave Kush and Brian Dillon
20 Neuroscience and Syntax 325
Emiliano Zaccarella and Patrick C. Trettenbrein
21 Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition 348
Stephen Crain and Rosalind Thornton
22 Chomsky and Signed Languages 364
Diane Lillo-Martin
23 Atypical Acquisition 377
Neil Smith and Ianthi Tsimpli
Part V Semantics, Pragmatics, and Philosophy of Language 391
24 Chomsky and the Analytical Tradition 393
John Collins
25 Chomsky on Meaning and Reference 404
Paul Pietroski
26 Chomsky on Semantics 416
Michael Glanzberg
27 Chomsky and Pragmatics 433
Nicholas Allott and Deirdre Wilson
Part VI Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Mind 449
28 Nativism 451
Georges Rey
29 The Deep Forces That Shape Language and the Poverty of the Stimulus 462
Stephen Crain, Iain Giblin, and Rosalind Thornton
30 Chomsky on the Evolution of the Language Faculty: Presentation and Perspectives for Further Research 476
Anne Reboul
31 Chomsky and Intentionality 488
John Collins and Georges Rey
32 The Mind-Body Relation: Problem, Mystery, or What? 503
Joseph Levine
Part VII Methodological and other Explanatory Issues 515
33 Chomsky's "Galilean" Explanatory Style 517
Nicholas Allott, Terje Lohndal, and Georges Rey
34 Chomsky and Fodor on Modularity 529
Nicholas Allott and Neil Smith
35 Linguistic Judgments as Evidence 544
Steven Gross
36 Chomsky's Problem/Mystery Distinction 557
John Collins
37 Knowledge, Morality, and Hope: The Social Thought of Noam Chomsky 567
Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers
Part VIII Reflections 581
38 Reflections 583
Noam Chomsky
Author Index 595
Subject Index 599
Acknowledgments xv
1 Synoptic Introduction 1
Nicholas Allott, Terje Lohndal, and Georges Rey
2 BiographicalSketch 18
Nicholas Allott, Terje Lohndal, and Georges Rey
Part I Historical Development of Linguistics 23
3 From the Origins of Government and Binding to the Current State of Minimalism 25
Artemis Alexiadou and Terje Lohndal
4 The Enduring Discoveries of Generative Syntax 52
Lisa Lai-Shen Cheng and James Griffiths
5 The Chomsky Hierarchy 74
Tim Hunter
6 Naturalism, Internalism, and Nativism: The Legacy of The Sound Pattern of English 96
Charles Reiss and Veno Volenec
7 Language as a Branch of Psychology: Chomsky and Cognitive Science 109
Lila Gleitman Copyrighted Material
Part II Contemporary Issues in Syntax 123
8 The Architecture of the Computation 125
David Adger
9 Merge and Features: The Engine of Syntax 140
Peter Svenonius
10 On Chomsky's Legacy in the Study of Linguistic Diversity 158
Mark Baker
11 Parameters and Linguistic Variation 172
Michelle Sheehan
12 Constraints on Grammatical Dependencies 190
Gereon Müller
13 Chomsky's Influence on Historical Linguistics: From Universal Grammar to Third Factors 210
Elly van Gelderen
14 Second Language Acquisition 222
Roumyana Slabakova
15 Multilingualism and Chomsky's Generative Grammar 232
Tanja Kupisch, Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares, Eloi Puig-Mayenco, and Jason Rothman
Part III Comparisons with other Frameworks 243
16 The View from Declarative Syntax 245
Peter Sells
17 How Statistical Learning Can Play Well with Universal Grammar 267
Lisa S. Pearl
18 Chomsky and Usage-Based Linguistics 287
Frederick J. Newmeyer
Part IV Processing and Acquisition 305
19 Sentence Processing and Syntactic Theory 307
Dave Kush and Brian Dillon
20 Neuroscience and Syntax 325
Emiliano Zaccarella and Patrick C. Trettenbrein
21 Universal Grammar and Language Acquisition 348
Stephen Crain and Rosalind Thornton
22 Chomsky and Signed Languages 364
Diane Lillo-Martin
23 Atypical Acquisition 377
Neil Smith and Ianthi Tsimpli
Part V Semantics, Pragmatics, and Philosophy of Language 391
24 Chomsky and the Analytical Tradition 393
John Collins
25 Chomsky on Meaning and Reference 404
Paul Pietroski
26 Chomsky on Semantics 416
Michael Glanzberg
27 Chomsky and Pragmatics 433
Nicholas Allott and Deirdre Wilson
Part VI Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Mind 449
28 Nativism 451
Georges Rey
29 The Deep Forces That Shape Language and the Poverty of the Stimulus 462
Stephen Crain, Iain Giblin, and Rosalind Thornton
30 Chomsky on the Evolution of the Language Faculty: Presentation and Perspectives for Further Research 476
Anne Reboul
31 Chomsky and Intentionality 488
John Collins and Georges Rey
32 The Mind-Body Relation: Problem, Mystery, or What? 503
Joseph Levine
Part VII Methodological and other Explanatory Issues 515
33 Chomsky's "Galilean" Explanatory Style 517
Nicholas Allott, Terje Lohndal, and Georges Rey
34 Chomsky and Fodor on Modularity 529
Nicholas Allott and Neil Smith
35 Linguistic Judgments as Evidence 544
Steven Gross
36 Chomsky's Problem/Mystery Distinction 557
John Collins
37 Knowledge, Morality, and Hope: The Social Thought of Noam Chomsky 567
Joshua Cohen and Joel Rogers
Part VIII Reflections 581
38 Reflections 583
Noam Chomsky
Author Index 595
Subject Index 599