- •Assignment
- •Version a
- •Read the text and answer Questions 1-6 by circling the appropriate letter option.
- •Read the following text and answer the questions in the written form.
- •Translate the following text into Russian (you may need an extra sheet of paper).
- •Write 300-350 words’ essay (on a separate sheet of paper) as a comment on the following:
Translate the following text into Russian (you may need an extra sheet of paper).
QUESTION: Ever since your work became so influential, there's been a tendency to try and construct a grammar of non-linguistic kinds of human interaction. Is it likely that the model of language will turn out not to be a unique model?
CHOMSKY: I think I wouldn't suggest if someone is interested in social interaction that they should try to apply the model of transformational grammar. But what I'd do is approach the problem in the same manner which is borrowed from the physical sciences -- namely, to ask, what is the system, what is the system of belief that governs the behavior we are observing? Let us discover the competence that underlies the behavior of a person in a social situation if that is the topic. And having developed an understanding of that competence, that internal system of beliefs and knowledge, then we have first to ask the question, what is it that's learned? Let us discover as scientifically as we can what we can about the system that's been acquired and call it the grammar, if you like it. Then, having, to the extent that we can, answered that question, we can sensibly raise the question of learning for the first time. The question of learning is the question of how that postulated system arises. On the basis of interaction with the environment, the question about learning can't be asked except to the extent that we already have some picture, some postulate, some concept as to the acquiring of the system. So, in this respect, I would think that any approach to psychology ought to follow the model of linguistics or, I hasten to say, it's not the model of linguistics but the model of any rational endeavor. And the fact that psychologists regard that as strange and curious is just a comment on how remote that kind of psychology is from rational endeavor and from the sciences in particular.
Write 300-350 words’ essay (on a separate sheet of paper) as a comment on the following:
Some people feel compassionate when dealing with others, when emotional about some point -- they try to put themselves in their shoes. Others take a judgmental stand and are ready to argue the issue. Which attitude do you support? Why? Give relevant examples to illustrate your idea.
