The Unknown Chomsky: When the Pentagon Used Chomsky’s Linguistics for Weapons Research

Abstract

Noam Chomsky’s early linguistic research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was funded by the Pentagon. While acknowledging this funding, Chomsky has always denied that it had any effect on either his linguistics or his political activism. Here, I provide evidence that Chomsky’s linguistic theories were initially developed in a context of significant military interest and involvement. I go on to argue that Chomsky’s anti-militarist conscience then prompted him to throw himself into passionate resistance against the Vietnam War – while making sure that his models of language were so abstract and unrealistic that military applications were unlikely ever to be found. The result was an impoverished linguistics that ignores the political implications of our understanding of language and its origins.