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Prominent American linguist and anarchist. Noam Chomsky was born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia. He was introduced to linguistics by his father, a Hebrew scholar who worked with historical linguistics. Noam studied at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a doctoral degree in linguistics in 1955, and then he began teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Chomsky originated Transformational Grammar (also known as generative grammar). Transformational grammar is a system for describing precisely the rules that determine all the sentences that can possibly be formed in any language. Chomsky claims that every human being knows the general principles of language at birth. He thinks these principles exist in every language and make up a universal grammar. Chomsky developed this theory because he disagreed with the idea that children learn to speak merely by imitating others. Learning by imitation, in his view, does not explain how people form sentences that they have never used before. He believes that the hearing of spoken language merely triggers the language ability that a child has from birth.
Books by Chomsky on linguistics include Syntactic Structures (1957), Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965), Language and Mind (1968), and Language and Problems of Knowledge (1988).
While many people are aware of this part of his career, many do not also know of his radical leftist political beliefs. Chomsky is the forefront American in a political movement known as libertarian socialism. Libertarian socialists like Chomsky believe that, while government can serve a purpose, it has become dangerously overgrown. In Chomsky's view, if a part of government does not serve a useful purpose, it should be removed. Chomsky also feels that the reason socialism did not work in the former Soviet Union is because it was run by the government and not by the people. Some of his best-known books on politics include Rogue State and What Uncle Sam Really Wants.
Chomsky was also a strong critic of the Clinton and (now the Bush) administrations. He is also a strong opponent of the "war on terrorism". Even though he is ethnically Jewish, he has been attacked by the Zionist Anti-Defamation League for supporting Palestinian cause in the Middle East.
Chomsky is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and Committees of Correspondence, as well as a supporter of the Green Party.