--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter
T. Daniels" <grammatim@...> wrote:
> etaonsh wrote:
> >
> > To me, Chomsky is the genius
behind
> > the coining of the word
> > 'psycholinguistics' and the
phrase
>
> Wrong. It was in use by 1952, when
Chomsky was still doing math and
> hadn't even reconceptualized
himself as a linguist.
>
I can accept what you say (even
without evidence, e.g., of the
actual originator) but is there not
a danger of important concepts
'getting lost' without the geniuses
to spotlight them? Marx didn't coin
words like 'capitalism' and
'communism,' after all. An important
concept like 'manufactured
consensus' could, conceivably, get
lost unless someone writes a study
on it. 'Psycholingustics' will not
achieve its potential until someone
opens a department under that name.
>
> BTW your posts are _very_ hard to
read -- can you do something about
> your line length, and also put
spaces before and after your
interspersed
> comments?
>
Yes, but it might involve passing a
blonde gorgon in charge of an
internet cafe.
>
> > 'manufactured consensus.' Both
of
> > these terms are immortal and
sorely
> > needed for progress in the areas
of
> > subject development and
sociology
> > (including the popular,
non-academic
> > variety) respectively. They are
> > words we need to take us forward
in
> > our collegiate planning and our
> > understanding of capitalist
> > oppression. Chomsky also brought
to
> > the surface discussion of the
> > obvious but hidden effect of
> > language (including individual
> > language) on thought.
>
> You're confusing Chomsky with
quite a few other linguists here.
>
That isn't the way it's portrayed in
the scientific media.
>
> > Despite having the simple virtue
of
> > genius, Chomsky is a victim of
an
> > age of labourism/work(er)ism, in
> > which academics measure their
worth
> > in terms of over-production of
> > superfluous 'stuffing;' it is as
if
> > they would fail to recognise
genius
> > were it not hidden in the
thickness
> > of a tome. But those days are
coming
> > to an end. So I spew away
Chomsky's
> > 'chaff' while delighting in his
> > 'wheat.'