Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Structural Linguistics” and gave proofs of his book to Chomsky to read; Best known
book of Harris: METHODS IN STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS
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22. WHEN DID CHOMSKY ESTABLISH A GRADUATE PROGRAM IN LINGUISTICS AT
MIT?
A. In the spring of 1959 Chomsky and his friend Morris Halle established the graduate
linguist. program and Jerry Fodor, Jerry Katz, Paul Postal, Robert Lees joined the
program.
23. WHICH PERIOD WAS CHARACTERIZED AS CHOMSKY’S CLASSIC PERIOD?
A. During the 1960s he published : Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, Topics in the
Theory of Generative Grammar, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cartesian Linguistics:
a Chapter in the History of Rationalist Thought, and this period is regarded as
Chomsky’s Classic Period.
24. WHAT DID CHOMSKY DISCUSS IN CARTESIAN LINGUISTICS?
A. He elaborated the relationship between empiricist and rationalist approaches. He
identifies himself as a follower of the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries rationalist
tradition. He claims that language creativity is actually a renewal of the same ideas that
were present in the works of tome linguists and philosophers from earlier centuries.
28. WHAT WERE THE TITLES OF THE FIRST POLITICAL ARTICLE AND BOOK?
A. First article: RESPONSIBILITY OF INTELLECTUALS/ New York Review of Books: First
political book: American Power and the New Mandarins/1969.
29. WHAT WAS CHOMSKY’S ROLE ON DRAFT RESISTANCE AND THE MARCH ON THE
PENTAGON?
In 1966 Chomsky supported the draft resistance and the event led to the formation of the
organization called RESIST that became involved in all form of resistance to authority.
Resist was also involved in the organization of the March on the Pentagon. Thousands of
people interested in participating in the March on Pentagon. During this march Chomsky
and many other participants were arrested and spent the night in a police station.
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Three political books: The Political Economy of Human Rights, Counter-Revolutionary
Violence, and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.
33. WHOM DID CHOMSKY START TO COLABORATE WITH IN THE 1970s AND WHICH
NEW PHASE WAS STARTED?
Chomsky decided to start collaborating with Edward S. Herman and a new phase began:
where he analyzed the role of media in the society, in addition to the political analysis of
current events.
34. WHICH BOOK BY CHOMSKY AND HERMAN WAS CENSORED AND WHY?
The book Counter-Revolutionary Violence was censored because Warner
Communications claimed that it was a pack of lies and an attack on Americans.
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38. WHICH EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION DID CHOMSKY COOPERATE WITH?
With the GLOW Association, at the conference in Pisa. And he gave a series of lectures all
in a book called LECTURES ON GOVERNMENT AND BINDING.
39. WHICH ACCUSATIONS AGAINST CHOMSKY APPEARED AT THE END OF THE 1970s
AND WHY?
He was accused of being pro-Soviet because he criticized actions of the American
government towards the Soviet Union.
Of being anti-Soviet: for criticizing Bolshevism and the Soviet government.
Of being pro-Arab: criticized the treatment of Arabs by Jews.
Of being Anti- Arab: because he applied the similar principles to Arab politics.
Of being anti- Semitic: whenever he pointed the wrongdoings of Israelis.
Of being pro- Khmer Rouge when he criticized the propaganda campaign in the West
concerning Cambodia.
Of being pro-Nazi because of his opposition to censorship against those who claim that the
Holocaust never happened.
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43. WHICH SCIENTIFIC FIELDS DO CHOMSKY’S BOOKS DEAL WITH?
Linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, history, politics and the media.
44. WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT ALL HIS POLITICAL BOOKS HAVE IN COMMON?
They represent a continuous fight against structures of authority and power.
SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES
46. WHICH MODELS FOR LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE ARE DISSCUSED IN SYNTACTIC
STRUCTURES?
Three models.
First: communication theoretic model of language
Second: incorporates immediate constituent analysis.
Third: transformational model for linguistic structure.
47. HOW DOES CHOMSKY DEFINE SYNTAX AND WHAT ARE GOALS AND RESULTS OF
SYNTACTIC INVESTIGATION?
Syntax is the study of principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in
particular languages.
Goal of syntactic investigation should be the construction of a grammar that can be viewed
as a device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language under analysis.
The result of syntactic investigation should be a theory of linguistic structure in which the
descriptive devices utilized in particular grammars are presented and studied abstractly,
with no specific reference to particular language.
48. WHICH SENTENCES DID CHOMSKY USE TO ILLUSTRATE THE INDEPENDECE OF
GRAMMAR? DISCUSS.
A. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
B. Furiously sleep ideas green colorless.
Grammaticalness cannot be semantically based. The ability of humans to produce and
recognize grammatical utterances is not based on meaning.
49. EXPLAIN A PHRASE STRUCTURE MODEL OF LANGUAGE; GIVE SOME PS RULES
AND EXPLAIN THEM?
The new form for grammars associated with constituent analysis
RULES:
A. S -> NP + VP
B. NP -> T + N
C. VP -> Verb + NP
D. T -> the
E. N -> man, ball, etc.
F. Verb -> hit, took etc.
50. WHAT ARE GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATIONS AD WHAT ARE THEIR
PROPERTIES?
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A grammatical transformation T operates on a given string (or a set of strings) with a given
constituent structure and converts it into a new string with a new derived constituent
structure.
PROPERTIES: an order of applications on these transformations must be defined; certain
transformations are obligatory whereas others are only optional.
51. What kind of speaker-hearer should linguistic theory be concerned with
A. linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-learner, in a completely
hegemonies speech – community, who knows his language perfectly and is unaffected
by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory, limitations, errors in applying
his knowledge of the language in actual performance
52. Explain the distinction between linguistic competence and performance
A. Linguistic competence is actually the speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his language, and
performance is the actual use of language in concrete situations. Chomsky points out
that performance could be a direct reflection of competence only under the idealization
described, but in actual fact, it does not happen.
53. What does Chomsky mean by generative grammar? What do speaker possess in
their mind
A. By a generative grammar Chomsky means simply a system of rules that in some
explicit and well-defined way assigns structural descriptions to sentence, every speaker
has a mastered and internalized a generative grammar that expresses his knowledge
of his language.
54. Explain the distinction between the notions “acceptable” and “grammatical” and
give examples
A. He uses the term “ acceptable” to refer to utterances that are natural and immediately
comprehensible. a)I called up the man who wrote the book that you told me about. b)I
called the man who wrote the book that you told me about up.Sentence A is more
acceptable than the sentence B because it is more likely to be produced, more easily
understood, less clumsy, and more natural. Chomsky emphasizes that the notion
“acceptable” is not to be confused with “grammatical”. Acceptability is a concept that
belong to the study of performance whereas the grammaticalness belong to the study
of competence. The sentence in B is less acceptable than the sentence A but it is still
grammatical.
55. What kind of a system is a generative grammar and what are its major components
A. A generative grammar must be a system of rules that can iterate to generate an
indefinitely large number of structures .this system or rules that can be analyzed into
the three major components of a generative grammar: the syntactic, phonological and
semantic components.
56. What is the ultimate standard for determining the accuracy of any grammar?(explain
ambiguity)
A. The speaker-hearers linguistic intuition is the ultimate standard that determines the
accuracy of any propose grammar or linguistic theory; Flying plains can be dangerous” - In
this sentence is presented in an appropriately constructed context, the listener will interpret it
immediately in a unique way and will fail to detect the ambiguity. His intuitive knowledge of the
language is such that both of the interpretations ( corresponding to “ Flying planes are
dangerous” and “ Flying planes is dangerous”) are assigned to the sentence by the grammar
he has internalized in some form.
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LANGUAGE AND MIND
57. WHAT ARE THE TOPICS OF THE THREE LECTURES CONTAINED IN THE BOOK
LAN&M?
FIRST LECTURE: an attempt to evaluate past contributions to the study of mind based on
research and speculation regarding the nature of language.
SECOND LECTURE: devoted to contemporary developments in linguistics having a
bearing on the study of mind.
THIRD LECTURE: a speculative discussion of directions that the study of mind and
language might take.
58. WHICH QUESTION DOES CHOMSKY FOCUS HIS ATTENTION ON THE FIRST
CHAPTER?
Chapter called: Linguistic contributions to the study of mind: past
QUESTION: What contribution can the study of language make to our understanding of
human nature?
59. WHICH TRADITIONS OF RESEARCH (IN WHICH PERIODS) INFLUENCED THE
CONTEMPORARY STUDY OF LANGUAGE?
One is the tradition of philosophical grammar that flourished from the seventeenth century
through romanticism. The second is the “structuralist” tradition which has dominated
research in the twentieth century, at least until the 1950s.
60. WHAT IS THE MOST APPROPRIATE FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY OF PROBLEMS
OF LANGUAGE AND MIND?
Chomsky believes that the most appropriate framework for the study of problems of
language and mind is the system of ideas developed as part of the rationalist psychology
of the 17th and 18th centuries, further elaborated in important respects by the romantics.
AMERICAN POWER
63. FIRST POLITICAL BOOK; THE MAIN TOPIC; DATE, WHAT IS CONTAINED IN IT,
DEVOTED TO?
A. American Power; DEVOTED TO: the brave young men who refuse to serve in a
criminal war
B. DATE: September 1969
C. NAME: American Power and the New Mandarins
D. CONTAINED IN IT: a collection of essays elaborated versions of lectures given over the
past years highly critical of the role that American intellectuals have played in designing
and implementing policy, interpreting historical events, and formulating an ideology of
social change. It describes American intervention in a civil war in Vietnam that was
converted into a colonial war of the classic type.
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64. WHICH QUESTION DOES CHOMSKY FOCUS HIS ATTENTION ON THE FIRST
CHAPTER?
A. NAME OF THE CHAPTER: Introduction
B. Chomsky ask the question: What about opposition to the war on the grounds that
Americans have no right to stabilize and restructure American Vietnamese society?
68. WHAT DOES HE THINK ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR AND ABOUT THE FOREIGN
POLICY OF THE U.S.?
A. The Vietnam War is the most obscene example of a frightening phenomenon of
contemporary history- the attempt by the United States to impose its particular concept
of order and stability throughout much of the world.
FATEFUL TRIANGLE
69. THE BOOK ABOUT PALEST.-ISRAELI CONFLICT AND THE ROLE OF THE U.S.,
DATE, FOREWORD?
A. DATE: 1983
B. FOREWORD: Edward Said points out that it may be the most ambitious book ever
attempted on the conflict between Zionism and the Palestinians viewed as centrally
involving the United States.
C. According to Chomsky the U.S. are rejectionists opposed to the peace.
70. WHY IS THE MIDDLE EAST REGION SO IMPORTANT FOR THE U.S., AND WHAT ARE
THE TWO MAIN PROBLEMS?
A. Chomsky points out that the strategic importance of the Middle East region lies
primarily in its immense petroleum reserves. It has been necessary to ensure that this
enormous wealth flows primarily to the West not to the people of the region. He thinks
that his is one fundamental problem that will continue to cause unrest and disorder.
Another problem is the Israel-Arab conflict which has been closely related to the major
U.S. strategic goal of dominating the region’s resources and wealth.
71. WHICH OF ISRAEL’S POLICIES ARE PERTICULARLY CRITICIZED BY CHOMSKY IN
THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE BOOK?
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A. Its consistent rejection of any political settlement that accommodates the national rights
of Palestinians, its repression and state terrorism over many years, and its propaganda
efforts, which have been remarkably successful in the United States.
72. HOW IS THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE U.S. AND ISRAEL
MANIFESTED, ELABORATED IN CH. 2?
A. The special relationship is manifested through the level of the U.S. military and
economic aid to Israel over many years.
73. HOW DOES CHOMSKY EXPLAIN THE CONCEPTS OF REJECTIONISM AND
ACCOMMODATION IN CH. 3?
A. Rejectionism is used in the United States to refer the position of those who deny the
right of existence of the State of Israel, or who deny that Jews have the right of national
self-determination within the former Palestine.
B. Accommodation is an international consensus where a “two-state settlement” is
taken to be a politically realistic solution that would bring a chance for peace and
security for the inhabitants of former Palestine.
78. What are some characteristics and how did this tragedy finish, as discussed in
Chapter3?
A. Chomsky points out that the US could reduce the misery and perhaps clear the way to
a more substantial solution to deeply rooted problems in many parts of the world by
simply withdrawing its support for atrocities. He thinks that it would require a willingness
on the part of the educated classes to look in to the mirror instead of restricting
themselves to criticizing the crimes of official enemies.
79. Why was the progress of Nicaragua in 1980s perceived as the real danger for the
USA?
A. Chomsky emphasizes that the progress of Nicaragua during the early 1980s was
praised by the World Bank and other international agencies as “remarkable” and as
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“laying a solid foundation for long-term socio-economic development”. So the real
danger was serious: Nicaragua’s remarkable “transformation could have metastasized
to a “revolution without borders”.
MANUFACTURING CONSENT
80. The book about media, co-author, date, what was sketched out in it
A. Chomsky wrote the book Manufacturing Consent in cooperation with Edward Herman.
The book was published in 1988. In the Preface, Herman and Chomsky emphasize that
in this book they sketch out a “propaganda model” and apply it to the performance of
the mass media of the US. They believe that the mass media serve to mobilize support
for the special interests that dominate and state and private activity.
81. Which news ‘filters’ are essential parts of their propaganda model (list five)
A. 1. the size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth and profit orientation of the
dominant mass-media firms; 2- advertising as the primary income source of the mass
media; 3- the reliance of the media on information provided by government, business,
and ‘experts’ funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power; 4-
“flak” as a means of disciplining the media; 5- anticommunism”- as a national religion
and control mechanism.
82. What is the first filter? explain
A. Size, ownership, and profit orientation of the mass media. Dominant media firms are
quite large businesses, they are controlled by very wealthy people or by managers who
are subject to sharp constraints by owners and other market-profit-oriented forces and
that the large media firms are closely interlocked having important common interests
with other major corporations, banks and government.
83. What is the second filter? explain
A. Advertising as the primary income source of the mass media. The death of the Daily
Herald was in a large measure a result of absence of advertising support. The Herald
with 8.1. precent of nationaly daily circulation, got 3.5% of net advertising revenue.
84. What is the third filter? explain
A. Sources of mass-media news. They point out that the media rely on information
provided by government, business and various “experts”. The mass media establish
relationship with powerful sources of information by economic necessity and reciprocity
of interest. The media need a steady, reliable flow of the raw material of news.
85. What is the fourth filter? explain
A. “Flak” as a means of disciplining the media. It refers to negative responses to a media
statement or program. It may take the form of letters, telegrams, phone calls, petitions,
lawsuits, speeches, and bills before Congress and other modes of complaint, threat,
and punitive action. It may be organized centrally or locally, or it may consist of the
entirely independent actions of individuals.
86. What is the fifth filter? explain
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A. Anticommunism as a control of mechanism; they point out opposition to communism
became the first principle of Western ideology and politics. This ideology helps mobilize
the population against an enemy. It can be used against anybody supporting policies
that threaten property interests or support compromise with Communist state and
radicalism. It therefore serves as a political-control mechanism.
NECESSARY ILLUSIONS
87. What is the book necessary Illusions about, when was it first published, where?
A. The book was first published in the UK in 1989. Chomsky points out that the five
chapter in this book are modified versions of the five Massey lectures that he delivered
over Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio in November 1988. These lectures
suggest certain conclusions about the functioning of the most advanced democratic
system of the modern era, and particularly, about the ways in which thought and
understating are shaped in the interests of domestic privilege.
88. How is thought control conducted in capitalist democracies?
A. Through the agency of the national media.
89. What was the aim of a New World Information Order, what was US reaction, and
why?
A. New World Information Order that would diversity media access and encourage
alternatives to the global media system dominated by the Western industrial powers.
Chomsky adds that a UNESCO inquiry into such possibilities elicited an extremely
hostile reaction in the US. The alleged concern was freedom of the press. Among the
questions Chomsky raises in this chapter are the following: just how serious in this
concern, and what is its substantive content? Additional questions are related to a
democratic communications policy; what it might be, whether it is a desideratum, and if
so, whether it is attainable.
90. Why is ‘citizen participation’ or ‘democratizing the media’ unacceptable in the US?
A. Chomsky claims that the concept of ‘democratizing the media’ has no real meaning
within the terms of political discourse in the US. Citizen participation would be
considered an infringement on freedom of the press, a blow stuck against the
independence of the media that would distort the mission they have undertaken to
inform the public without fear of favor.
91. List three models of media organization according to Chomsky’s classification
A. 1. corporate oligopoly. 2. State-controlled 3. A democratic communications policy as
advanced by the Brazilian bishops.
92. What is amount of democratic participation in the media in these models of media
organization
A. The first model reduces democratic participation in the media to zero. In the case of
state-controlled media, democratic participation might vary, depending on how the
political system functions. The stte media are generally kept in line by the forces that
have the power to dominate thestate, and by n apparatus of cultural managers. The
third model is largely untried in practice.
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MEDIA CONTROL
93. Which conceptions of democracy are presented in the introduction to Media C
A. According to the first conception, a democratic society in one in which the public has
the means to participate in some meaningful way in the management of their own
affairs and the means of information are open and free. An alternative conception is
that the public must be blocked from managing of their own affairs and the means of
information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled.
94. What was the first modern government propaganda operation
A. In the first section on Early History of Propaganda, Chomsky begins with the first
modern government propaganda operation. That was in the US under the presidency of
Woodrow Wilson, who was elected President in 1916 on the platform “Peace Without
Victory”. That was in the middle of the WW1.
95. What does it mean to ‘manufacture consent’? who created this phrase?
A. That is, to bring about agreement on the part of the public for things that they did not
using new techniques of propaganda to achieve this goal. This phrase was created by
Walter Lippmann.
96. What was the commitment of the public relations industry?
A. Its commitment was “to control the public mind” as its leaders put it.
97. What was called ‘the crisis of democracy’ by the specialized class?
A. In the 1960s there was another wave of dissidence. It was called by the specialized
class “ the crisis of democracy”. It implies that democracy was regarded as entering
into a crisis in the 1960s.
98. Why is it necessary to completely falsify history and to reconstruct the history of
Vietnam War.
A: That is another way to overcome these sickly inhibitions to make it look as if when
Americans attack and destroy somebody they are really protecting and defending themselves
against major aggressor and monsters. Too many people began to understand what was
really going on. It was necessary to rearrange those bad thoughts and to restore some form
of sanity, namely a recognition that whatever Americans do is noble and right. If Americans are
bombing South Vietnam, that is because they are defending South Vietnam against
somebody, namely, the South Vietnamese, since nobody was there.
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