idem …

The concept of #language was modeled more and more after those emerging from interactions with computers, the “computer languages.” It is clear that the syntax of these languages must be obeyed meticulously, otherwise ‘‘garbage in - garbage out.”
Unfortunately, under the leadership of one of the foremost linguists in America, Noam Chomsky, the logico-mathematical principle of fulfilling rigorous #syntactic requirements in so-called “well-formed formulae” was transplanted into the domain of natural languages and became a criterion for “linguistic competence.” This aspect of language ignores the essential role as a means of #communication and perceives language as an end in itself. It is in this castrated form that one believes language is “linear,” that questions have unique answers, that the linguistic problem is to generate “well-formed sentences,” and other misconceptions that have their roots in perceiving language as a monologue.