Chomsky

I should like to record here my gratitude to Noam Chomsky for reading through the manuscript of this book. The fact that it has been read in advance by Chomsky (and corrected in a number of places) encourages me in the belief that it gives a reasonably fair and reliable account of his views on linguistics and the philosophy of language. There are of course a number of points, especially in the final chapter, where I do not agree with everything that Chomsky would say. But those points of disagreement will be obvious enough either from the text itself or from the notes that I have added to the text.

My main purpose in writing the book has been to provide the reader with enough of the historical and technical background for him to go on to consult the technical literature. I have tried to assume that certain sections of my book are fairly inaccessible. But I do believe that it is possible to understand most of the more important ideas or to appreciate the impact that his ideas are having in a number of different disciplines without going into some of the details of the formal system for the description of language that he has constructed.

C. Marshall and P. H. Matthews have also been kind enough to read the book for me in manuscript; and I have greatly benefited from their comments. As a result of their comments, I am deeply indebted to them for their assistance. Needless to say, I am solely responsible for any errors or imperfections that still remain in the text.

J. L.