Linguistics lecture draws hundreds to Ellis Auditorium

There was no room to sit, and they kept coming. There was no room to walk down the aisles, and they still kept coming. By the time Noam Chomsky began his 4 p.m. Monday lecture on biolinguistics, there was no way anyone else was squeezing into Ellis Auditorium.

With around 300 people in attendance, Chomsky’s lecture covered his first love, linguistics and the fundamental pattern that is innate in all languages. He admitted to not having prepared much for the talk and opened up the floor to questions.

“There are two possibilities,” Chomsky said. “One that makes more sense and one that makes less sense. The one that makes less sense is to talk about what’s on my mind. The one that makes more sense is to talk about what’s on your minds.”

Audience members took the invitation and asked questions on topics ranging from animal communication to sign language.

Over the course of an hour, Chomsky said that language is unique to humans and that all language has the same basic structure. In the past 50 years, theorists have tended toward the belief that there is really only one language with minor variations, he said.

“Variation in languages is mostly an illusion,” Chomsky said. “It’s using the same mechanisms in slightly different ways.”

He also touched on sign language and argued that communication done with the hands uses the same part of the brain as communication done with the mouth.

People still had questions, but the lecture had to end.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people here interested in linguist theories, but also a lot just interested in seeing him in person,” said Matt Parsons, an MU student lucky enough to get a front row seat.

Engineering student Vince Foley agreed.

“I’ve been wanting to see him for a long time. He is the only person that I’ve read that has a grasp of the honest truth. He doesn’t put a spin on it.”