Special Linguistics Lecture: Noam Chomsky will be giving an academic lecture titled, “What is Special About Language?” on February 7th from 4-6 p.m. in the University of Arizona's Student Union Memorial Center, North Ballroom.   

Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor and a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at Boston’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked for more than 50 years. Chomsky, who according to The New York Times is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” is credited with revolutionizing the field of linguistics by introducing the Chomsky hierarchy, generative grammar, and the concept of a universal grammar, which underlies all human speech and is based in the innate structure of the mind/brain. Beyond linguistics, his work has influenced fields such as cognitive science, philosophy, computer science, mathematics, and psychology.

Noam Chomsky has received numerous awards, including the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the Helmholtz Medal, the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award, and the Ben Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science.

Over the years, Chomsky has been a profoundly influential voice, lecturing widely and publishing numerous books on U.S. foreign policy, Mideast politics, and related subjects. In fact, he’s been ranked with Marx, Shakespeare and Aristotle as one of the ten most quoted sources in the humanities, and is the only writer among them still alive. 
 
Sponsors:
This special event is supported by: The University of Arizona's Department of Linguistics, The College of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Confluence: Center for Creative Inquiry.

In addition to the financial and organizational support provided by the Department of Linguistics, Chomsky’s visit is also underwritten by contributions from the College of Education and Elise Collins Shields and Creston Shields. 

For more information on Chomsky's academic lecture on 2.7.12, please contact Jennifer Columbus, 520.621.2113 or jennife2@email.arizona.edu