“Colorless green ideas sleep fiercely” ( eng. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously ) is an example used by Noam Chomsky in the book Syntactic Structures to demonstrate the non-equivalence of the concepts grammatical and meaningful. Chomsky, comparing this sentence with another, built not in accordance with the rules of English grammar , wrote:
... The concept of "grammatically correct" can not be identified with the concepts of "meaningful", "significant" in any semantic sense. The data below for sentences (1) and (2) are equally meaningless, but any native speaker of English will call only the first grammatically correct.
- (1) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
- "Colorless green thoughts sleep violently."
- (2) Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. [one]
Original Text (Eng.)... The notion "grammatical" cannot be identified with "meaningful" or "significant" in any semantic sense. Sentences (1) and (2) are equally nonsensical.
- (1) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
- (2) Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. [2]
Content
Offer Analysis
Chomsky’s interpretation was later challenged by R. O. Jacobson , who urged not to confuse existential unreality with a lack of semantic significance and showed that a grammatically correct sentence could be read as semantically significant:
... Analyzing the sentence "Colorless green ideas are furiously sleeping," considered by Chomsky as an example of a meaningless utterance, we reveal in it the plural plural form of the "idea", which is said to be in a state of "sleep"; Both members have definitions: “ideas” are characterized as “colorless greens”, and “dream” - as “furious”. The indicated grammatical relations create a meaningful sentence for which a truth check is possible: are there such things as “colorless green”, “green ideas”, “sleepy ideas” or “furious dream”? “Colorless green” is a synonymous expression for “pale green”, which has a slight humorous hue as an obvious oxymoron . The epithet “green” at the word “ideas” is a metaphor reminiscent of the famous line of Andrew Marvell “Green thought in a green shade” (“Green thought in a green shadow”) or Leo Tolstoy “All the same horror red, white, square”, as well as the Russian idiom "longing green." In the figurative sense, the verb “sleep” means 'to be in a state similar to a dream, to be inert, numb, lethargic, etc.'; for they say, for example, his hatred never slept (lit. 'his hatred never slept'). Why, then, cannot anyone's ideas fall into a dream? And finally, why not consider the word “violently” as an emphatic synonym for the word “firmly”? [3]
I. M. Kobozev , referring to Chomsky’s example, indicates that there are two types of semantic anomaly in its content [4] :
- logical contradiction , consisting in attributing to the object of thought incompatible signs;
- nonsense , the source of which is categorical incompatibility - ascribing to an object of one type (in particular, thought ) a property inherent in objects belonging to another type ( sleep ).
Impact
Entering into scientific use, Chomsky’s example was repeatedly cited in linguistic literature, including Russian-language literature [5] . In addition, he served as the title of one of the publications of L. G. Stepanova [6] .
See also
- Le silence vertébral indispose la voile licite 'The vertebral silence causes discomfort in the legal sail' - example of L. Tenier
- Glosse Kuzdra
- Puski btyatye
- Theological Non-Cognitivism
Notes
- ↑ Chomsky N. Syntactic structures // New in Linguistics . - M. , 1962. - Vol. Ii . - S. 418 .
- ↑ Chomsky N. Syntactiс Structures . - De Gruyter Mouton, 2002. - P. 15. - ISBN 3-11-017279-8 .
- ↑ Jacobson R.O. Boas's views on grammatical meaning // Selected Works . - M .: Progress , 1985.
- ↑ Kobozeva I. M. The main components of the proposal content plan // Linguistic semantics: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: Book House "LIBROCOM", 2009. - S. 204. - 352 p. - (New linguistic textbook). - ISBN 978-5-397-00024-6 .
- ↑ See for example:
- M. Krongauz. Semantics: studies. for stud. lingua Fak. higher studies. institutions. - 2nd ed., Corr. and additional .. - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 2005. - S. 47. - 352 p. - 5100 copies - ISBN 5-7695-2016-7 . ;
- Revzina O. G. Language and discourse // Bulletin of Moscow University . Ser. 9. Philology. - M. , 1999. - № 1 . - p . 25-33 .
- ↑ Bibliography of L. G. Stepanova on the website of OR RAS . Archived April 20, 2012. (Checked May 20, 2010)
- ↑ Tener L. Fundamentals of structural syntax. - M .: Progress, 1988 .-- S. 54. - 656 p.