Round 6: Tossup 19

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

ANSWER: Noam Chomsky [or Avram Noam Chomsky; accept Chomsky normal form; accept Chomsky hierarchy]
<Editors, Social Science> | Packet I
= Average correct buzz position

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