Round 9: Tossup 19

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

Back to tossups

Buzzes

Summary