Douglas_Knight comments on Open Thread, Sept 5. - Sept 11. 2016 - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (102)
The passage seems silly. It is easy to make statistical models that contradict Chomsky's claim. But I think he means something else, that whether a sentence is grammatical, while not a binary, admits sharply discrete levels. The concept of grammar cuts human understanding of language at its joint and statistical understanding is largely on the other side. At least, that is the claim; I think introspection is difficult and usually turns statistical understanding into an illusion of discreteness.