Noam Chomsky - 2025 ACF Fall

Tossup

This thinker developed phase theory as part of a paradigm whose basic operations are Move and Merge. (10[7])This thinker’s (10[1])“normal form” (10[1])can express context-free (-5[1])grammars, (10[7]-5[1])which are nested between (10[4])context-sensitive (10[3]-5[1])and regular grammars (10[2]-5[2])in his namesake (10[2]-5[1])hierarchy. (10[7]-5[1])This thinker (10[2]-5[1])developed (10[1]-5[1])the (-5[1])minimalist program (10[1]-5[1])to replace his earlier (-5[1])X-bar theory. (10[1])Because (10[2])children (10[3])have a (10[1])“poverty (10[1])of the stimulus,” (10[2])this (10[1])thinker (10[3])argued (10[1])that (10[1])people have (10[1])an innate (10[1])capacity to (10[1])understand (10[2])recursive (10[1])language. (10[5]-5[1])This (-5[1])thinker’s (10[2])book (10[1])Syntactic (10[1])Structures (10[5])discusses the (10[2])sentence (10[1])“colorless (10[2])green (10[1])ideas (10[2])sleep (10[3])furiously.” (10[2])For 10 points, name this (10[1])MIT linguist (10[5])who developed (10[1])the theory (10[3])of universal (10[1])grammar. (10[2])■END■ (10[9]0[2])

ANSWER: Noam Chomsky [or Avram Noam Chomsky; accept Chomsky normal form; accept Chomsky hierarchy]

<Editors, Social Science>

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Buzzes

Player	Team	Opponent	Position	Value
Denali Tran-Le	McGill B	McGill A	16	10
Nico Pascual	Michigan State B	Ohio State A	16	10
Liam Rojas	Virginia A	William & Mary A	16	10
William Henley	Illinois Champaign	Illinois Blue	16	10
Brooks Phillips	Auburn A	Auburn B	16	10
Arhith Dharaendra	Georgia Tech B	Georgia Tech F	16	10
Aidan Keenan	Rochester	Binghamton B	16	10
Nina Chen	Waterloo B	Waterloo C	18	10
Abbott Sherwin	NCSU A	UNC A	20	10
Dan Millington	Birmingham	Southampton	23	-5
Rishi Mathur	Claremont B	Claremont A	24	-5
Taman Truong	USC B	UCLA E	24	10
Will Huang	Wisconsin A	St. Thomas	24	10
Surya Dinesh	MIT A	Boston College A	24	10
Judah Friedman	UConn A	Tufts B	24	10
Skand Parvatikar	Arizona State B	Washington Coho	24	10
Bharath Ram	Georgia Tech A	Tennessee A	24	10
Antara Bhattacharya	Cambridge A	Oxford	24	10
Winston Zuo	UC Santa Barbara	UCSD A	28	10
Sam Kung	UNC C	Virginia Tech C	28	10
Ben Simmons	Macalester	Iowa State	28	10
James Haddix	Washington State	Arizona State A	28	10
Jacob Cohen	UCLA A	USC A	29	10
Alden Thompson	Carleton A	Carleton B	29	10
Abhay Ariyapappillil	Ottawa B	McGill C	29	-5
Nathaniel Martin	Brandeis Bach	Boston University A	29	10
Matthew Wozniak	Michigan B	Michigan State A	32	-5
Charlie Weaver	Virginia Tech B	Virginia Tech A	32	-5
Anne Fjeld	Alberta A	Washington Steelhead	32	10
Daniel Huang	Georgia Tech D	Montevallo	32	10
Peyton Legg	UCF A	Florida Tech A	35	10
Nicholas Decker	George Mason A	Maryland A	35	10
James Stadler	Imperial B	Cambridge C	35	-5
Tianyi Zheng	UCSD B	UCLA C	36	10
Jas Wang	UCLA F	UC Irvine	36	10
Nate Brown	CWRU C	Ohio State C	36	10
Gary Wang	Michigan D	Pittsburgh	36	10
Venkat Das	WVU B	Michigan State D	36	10
Walter Carson	NCSU B	Liberty C	36	10
Kyle Hart	MIT B	Brandeis Beethoven	36	-5
Danny Cutbill	RIT A	Cornell C	36	10
James Fan	Toronto E	McMaster B	38	10
Dustin Sanders	Chicago B	Illinois Urbana	38	10
Tom Blythe	Cambridge D	Bristol	38	-5
Will Massey	Florida Tech B	ERAU Daytona A	39	-5
Ollie Glin-Conway	Imperial D	Cambridge E	39	10
Joel Kim	Clemson B	Clemson C	40	-5
George Matsumura	Washington Chum	British Columbia C	42	10
Charlotte Nicholas	Durham B	Sheffield A	42	-5
Charles Miller	William & Mary C	William & Mary B	46	-5
Jackson Price	Dartmouth B	Brown B	48	10
Kevin Zheng	Michigan A	CWRU A	49	10
Towery McNeil	Mississippi State A	Auburn C	49	10
Wyatt Johnson	CWRU B	Louisville A	50	10
Anurag Shah	Indiana A	Illinois Canada	50	10
Sonya Bates	Washington Atlantic	British Columbia B	50	10
Ezra Zareba	UNC B	VCU A	52	10
Danny Han	Stanford B	Berkeley Archer Queen	53	10
Jamie Pach	Ottawa D	Ottawa A	56	10
Jason Lee	Rutgers A	Maryland C	56	10
Nikola Wu	UCLA D	UCLA B	57	10
Nicholas Nguyen	Florida B	Florida A	58	10
David Ciardella	Vermont B	Dartmouth A	58	10
Adil Soubki	Cambridge B	Cardiff	58	10
Colette Giezentanner	WashU Grizzlers	Indiana B	59	10
Kathryn Knispel	Edinburgh D	York	60	10
Matthew Stall	CWRU D	Ohio State B	62	10
Eli Zimmerman	Tufts C	Amherst B	64	10
Yuxuan Lu	Vanderbilt A	South Carolina A	66	10
Tobias Smerdon	Toronto G	Guelph A	67	10
Alex Dzurick	William Woods University A	Rose-Hulman A	67	10
Dawson Teu	Waterloo A	Toronto D	68	10
Andrea Owusu	Duke A	Liberty A	69	10
David Nickel	Purdue A	Purdue C	69	10
Jonathan Schnipper	Brandeis Mozart	Williams B	69	10
Wesley Yu	British Columbia A	Texas	69	10
Ada Bendel	Bristol	Cambridge D	69	10
Youyou Yu	Imperial A	Warwick	69	-5
Alan Cai	Amherst A	Brown A	70	-5
Joseph Strom	Louisville B	Michigan C	71	10
Wesley Stine	Clemson A	Georgia Tech C	71	10
Alex Forman	Cornell D	RIT B	72	10
Nishad Joshi	Kentucky	Louisville D	73	10
Zachary Bornstein	Virginia Tech A	Virginia Tech B	74	10
Camden Walker	WashU Grolars	Purdue D	74	10
Devin Tharp	Chipola College	Alabama A	74	10
Samarth Prajapati	Georgia Tech E	Emory A	74	10
Rufus Gladwell	Durham A	Edinburgh A	74	10
Andrew Park	Harvard	Williams C	76	10
Will Barton	Imperial C	LSE	76	10
Daniel Slater	Tennessee Tech	Georgia A	77	10
Christian Humeniuk	McMaster A	Toronto B	78	10
Eric Parrilla	Chicago A	Iowa A	78	10
Summer Solis	JMU B	Liberty B	79	10
Surya Donath	Stanford A	Berkeley Little Prince	80	10
Beckett Pursey	Purdue B	Iowa B	80	10
Jennifer Zhu	McGill C	Ottawa B	81	10
Joe Paterson	Michigan State A	Michigan B	81	10
Aaron Bates	Washington Pink	Washington Sockeye	81	10
Christina Popov	Queen's A	Toronto F	82	10
Pen Hughes	Edinburgh C	Durham C	82	10
Ellen Ge	Toronto A	Toronto C	87	10
Suren Grigorian	Berkeley Mighty Miner	Berkeley Boss Bandit	89	10
Annika Larson	Claremont A	Claremont B	89	10
Ishan Chahande	Ohio State D	Louisville C	89	10
Ben Stras	Wisconsin C	Minnesota	89	10
Eames Weeks	Brown A	Amherst A	89	10
Gerrit Severeid	McGill E	Ottawa C	91	10
Sicheng Jiang	Toronto H	Brock A	93	10
Richard D’Angelo	Tennessee B	Sewanne	93	10
Ben Gardberg	Cornell B	Binghamton C	93	10
Gregory Stone	ESF	Cornell A	95	10
Hafsa Shaikh	Toronto I	McMaster C	96	10
Jack Disbury	Durham D	Edinburgh B	96	10
Juan Landaeta	Florida State A	South Florida A	97	10
Eric Cameron	Michigan State C	WVU A	97	0
Gwen Myers	WVU A	Michigan State C	97	0
William Erwin	William & Mary B	William & Mary C	97	10
Noah Lang	Wisconsin B	Michigan Tech	97	10
Jack Yesner	Brandeis Beethoven	MIT B	97	10
Grace Lovitt	Washington Masu	Boise State	97	10
Edward Zhang	Vanderbilt C	Vanderbilt B	97	10
Tevin Francis	Southampton	Birmingham	97	10
Tim Morrice	Cambridge C	Imperial B	97	10
Jolie Yeh	Warwick	Imperial A	97	10

Summary

Tournament	Edition	TUH	Conv. %	Neg %	Average Buzz
UK (North)	UK	5	80%	20%	78.00
UK (South)	UK	8	100%	50%	69.63
Northern California	US	3	100%	0%	74.00
Southern California	US	7	100%	14%	42.71
Eastern Canada (1)	US	5	100%	20%	54.60
Eastern Canada (2)	US	9	100%	0%	69.67
Florida	US	4	75%	25%	63.33
Great Lakes	US	12	92%	8%	54.45
Lower Mid-Atlantic	US	9	100%	22%	52.33
Upper Mid-Atlantic	US	2	100%	0%	45.50
Midwest	US	9	100%	0%	59.00
North	US	4	100%	0%	59.50
Northeast	US	10	100%	20%	57.80
Pacific	US	8	100%	0%	52.88
Southeast	US	13	92%	8%	57.42
Upstate NY	US	5	100%	0%	62.40