Chomsky Was Right: We Do have Grammar in Our Head

Lately I have been pondering the manner in which language works and a close friend forwarded this article concerning Chomsky's view of grammar which is deeply embedded in our language.

My interest is slightly different than Chomsky's however his work may be used to support my thesis. The main thrust of my idea is that "language speaks man"---this phrase comes of course from Heidegger. It dovetails neatly with the research I am presently conducting on poetry and how meaning "rises up" to language.

It is a technical discussion to be sure and I will not bore the reader at this point with technicalities! The upshot of my research will have immense potential for application in the current cultural milieu: in medicine, advertising, education and explain how humans interact with computing and law enforcement.
This might sound like an overstatement---overly bold---but if I can hammer out this idea and then get appropriate support for empirical research, I will be able to provide a set of practical suggestions which will be of great value in promoting ethical culture in the USA.

I will provide one example: Though the AMA and the medical establishment, with well intended do-gooders, advertize "awareness" for cancer for example Susan Komen fundraisers, and the pink cancer advocates which are found ubiquitously in the cultural lifeworld (on water bottles, billboards, pink ribbons, etc., etc... Their intention is to promote awareness of women's breast cancer with an eye toward treating this malady---whether it be in terms of treatment or education, the proponents of this movement are not aware that this 'awareness' actually promotes the incidence of cancer.
How is this so?

It is well known phenomenon that advertizing possesses subliminal impact upon buying behavior---both conscious and unconscious encounters with images and words actually promotes and manifests the effect of buying behavior and desire---why should this be any different with promoting pink awareness.?

I am only at the very beginning of this research project and being that I am merely mortal as well as finite, a lone researcher without any institutional funding, you will have to be patient--this will take a great deal of effort to produce results. There is no doubt in my mind that other researchers will join me in this undertaking but it will take time.  


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When You Gonna Wake Up Bob Dylan

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God don’t make no promises that He don’t keep
You got some big dreams, baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

Counterfeit philosophies have polluted all of your thoughts
Karl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger’s got you tied up in knots

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

You got innocent men in jail, your insane asylums are filled
You got unrighteous doctors dealing drugs that’ll never cure your ills

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

You got men who can’t hold their peace and women who can’t control their tongues
The rich seduce the poor and the old are seduced by the young

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

Adulterers in churches and pornography in the schools
You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

Spiritual advisors and gurus to guide your every move
Instant inner peace and every step you take has got to be approved

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

Do you ever wonder just what God requires?
You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

You can’t take it with you and you know that it’s too worthless to be sold
They tell you, “Time is money,” as if your life was worth its weight in gold

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

There’s a Man up on a cross and He’s been crucified
Do you have any idea why or for who He died?

When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

Copyright © 1979 by Special Rider Music

Photos by Peter Wolf

'Cross the Green Mountain by Bob Dylan

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Cross The Green Mountain

Words and music Bob Dylan
Written for the soundtrack of the film Gods And Generals (2003), released on Tell Tale Signs (2008)
Lyrics taken from communal efforts at the Pool message board; tab by Eyolf Østrem

Two things are noteworthy from the guitaristic side. One is the continuously sounding -----3 (highest string, third fret), throughout most of the chords (see chord chart). The other is the bitonality of the second chord. Where I've written a G/b chord, some of the instruments play a Bm chord, which clashes with the -----3. There are some ways of approximating that on a single guitar, but none are completely satisfying; see suggestions below.
Apart from that, it's an interesting tune for three reasons: the difference between the two types of verses, which are so similar that it's hard to keep them apart, but still quite distinct; the irregular strophe structure, with the secondary verse form occurring three times, with a different number of “regular” verses in between. The third reason is more elusive, but despite its extreme simplicity, with basically the same chord sequence (Am7-G/b-C-D, reversed in the bridge) for just about every line, it still works wonderfully.

Capo 1st fret (sounding key Ab major)

Chords:

C      x32013

G/b    x20003 or x20033

Am7    x02213 or x02013

Dsus4  xx0233

Dsus2  xx0230

Cadd9  x32033

Bm     x24432 (alternative to G/b)

Bm+G/b x24433 (hard)

       xx4433 (not so hard, but misses the bass note)

       x20002 (easy, but misses the high -----3)

       79978x (easy enough, but the move to the high position isn't ideal)

C   . . . G/b . . . Am7 . . . G     . . .

Am7 . . . G/b . . . C   . . . Dsus4 . D .

Am7                G/b      C             D

 I cross the green mountain, I sit by the stream

Am7             G/b           C                  D

 Heaven blazing in my head, I dreamt a monstrous dream

C          G/b     Am7        Dsus4 D Dsus2 D

 Something came up out of the sea

Em                C           D            Em

Swept through the land of the rich and the free

C . . . G . . . D . . .

I look into the eyes of my merciful friend

And then i ask myself, is this the end?

Memories linger, sad yet sweet

And I think of the souls in heaven who will meet

C . . . G . . . D . . .

C           G/b          Am7            G

 Altars are burning with flames far and wide

C                    G/b  Am7             Dsus4  D Dsus2  D

 The foe has crossed over  from the other side

C               G/b  Am7                  G

 They tip their caps  from the top of the hill

Am7                G/b        Cadd9          Dsus4 . . . D . . .

 You can feel them come, more brave blood to spill

Along the dim Atlantic line

the ravaged land lies for miles behind

The light's coming forward and the streets are broad

All must yield to the avenging God

C . . . G . . C G . . .

The world is old, the world is gray

Lessons of life, can't be learned in a day

I watch and I wait, and I listen while I stand

To the music that comes from a far-better land

Close the eyes of our captain, peace may he know

His long night is done, the great leader is laid low

He was ready to fall, he was quick to defend

Killed outright he was, by his own men

C . . . G . C . G . . .

It's the last day's last hour, of the last happy year

I feel that the unknown world is so near

Pride will vanish and glory will rot

But virtue lives and cannot be forgot

C . . . G . . . D . . .

The bells of leavening have rung

There's blasphemy on every tongue

Let 'em say that I walked in fair nature's light

And that I was loyal to truth and to right

C . . . G . C . G . . .

Serve God and be cheerful, look upward, beyond

Beyond the darkness of masks, the surprises of dawn

In the deep green grasses of the blood stained world

They never dreamed of surrenderin', they fell where they stood

Stars fell over Alabama, I saw each star

You're walkin' in dreams, whoever you are

Chilled are the skies, keen as the frost

The ground's froze hard and the morning is lost

C . . . G . C . G . . .

A letter to mother came today

Gunshot wound to the breast is what it did say

But he'll be better soon, he's in a hospital bed

But he'll never be better - he's already dead

C . . . G . C . G . . .

I'm ten miles outside the city, and I'm lifted away

In an ancient light, that is not of day

They were calm, they were blunt, we knew 'em all too well

We loved each other more than we ever dared to tell

C . . . G . Cadd9 . G

Apocalypse Illustrated: American Pharoah

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Revelation: Signs in the Skies

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Isolated Bass Playing: Paul McCartney "Another Day"

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Hey Bulldog Isolated Bass

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Roger Daltrey Sinead o'connor

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