Editing Noam Chomsky (section)

===Early career: 1955–1966===
Chomsky befriended two linguists at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT)—[[Morris Halle]] and [[Roman Jakobson]]—the latter of whom secured him an assistant professor position there in 1955. At MIT, Chomsky spent half his time on a [[mechanical translation]] project and half teaching a course on linguistics and philosophy.{{sfnm|1a1=Lyons|1y=1978|1p=xv|2a1=Barsky|2y=1997|2pp=86–87|3a1=Sperlich|3y=2006|3pp=38–40}} He described MIT as open to experimentation where he was free to pursue his idiosyncratic interests.{{sfn|Barsky|1997|p=87}} MIT promoted him to the position of [[associate professor]] in 1957, and over the next year he was also a visiting professor at [[Columbia University]].{{sfnm|1a1=Lyons|1y=1978|1p=xvi|2a1=Barsky|2y=1997|2p=91}} The Chomskys had their first child, [[Aviva Chomsky|Aviva]], that same year.{{sfnm|1a1=Barsky|1y=1997|1p=91|2a1=Sperlich|2y=2006|2p=22}} He also published his first book on linguistics, ''[[Syntactic Structures]]'', a work that radically opposed the dominant Harris–[[Leonard Bloomfield|Bloomfield]] trend in the field.{{sfnm|1a1=Barsky|1y=1997|1pp=88–91|2a1=Sperlich|2y=2006|2p=40|3a1=McGilvray|3y=2014|3p=5|4a1=Chomsky|4y=2022}} Responses to Chomsky's ideas ranged from indifference to hostility, and his work proved divisive and caused "significant upheaval" in the discipline.{{sfn|Barsky|1997|pp=88–91}} The linguist [[John Lyons (linguist)|John Lyons]] later asserted that ''Syntactic Structures'' "revolutionized the scientific study of language".{{sfn|Lyons|1978|p=1}} From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a [[National Science Foundation]] fellow at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey]].{{sfnm|1a1=Lyons|1y=1978|1p=xvi|2a1=Barsky|2y=1997|2p=84}}

[[File:MIT Building 10 and the Great Dome, Cambridge MA.jpg|thumb|The [[Great Dome (MIT)|Great Dome]] at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Chomsky began working at MIT in 1955.]]
[[File:Portrait of Noam Chomsky used in the April 1961 issue of The Technology Review.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Chomsky, {{circa|1961}}]]

Chomsky's provocative critique of [[B. F. Skinner]], who viewed language as learned behavior, and that critique's challenge to the dominant behaviorist paradigm thrust Chomsky into the limelight. Chomsky argued that behaviorism underplayed the role of human creativity in learning language and overplayed the role of external conditions in influencing verbal behavior.{{sfnm|1a1=Lyons|1y=1978|1p=6|2a1=Barsky|2y=1997|2pp=96–99|3a1=Sperlich|3y=2006|3p=41|4a1=McGilvray|4y=2014|4p=5|5a1=MacCorquodale|5y=1970|5pp=83–99}}<!-- are all of these necessary? Barsky alone seems sufficient --> He proceeded to found MIT's graduate program in linguistics with Halle. In 1961, Chomsky [[received tenure]] and became a [[full professor]] in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics.{{sfnm|1a1=Barsky|1y=1997|1pp=101–102, 119|2a1=Sperlich|2y=2006|2p=23}} He was appointed plenary speaker at the Ninth [[International Congress of Linguists]], held in 1962 in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], which established him as the ''de facto'' spokesperson of American linguistics.{{sfn|Barsky|1997|p=102}} Between 1963 and 1965 he consulted on a military-sponsored project to teach computers to understand natural English commands from military generals.{{sfn|Knight|2018a}}

Chomsky continued to publish his linguistic ideas throughout the decade, including in ''[[Aspects of the Theory of Syntax]]'' (1965), ''Topics in the Theory of Generative Grammar'' (1966), and ''[[Cartesian Linguistics: A Chapter in the History of Rationalist Thought]]'' (1966).{{sfn|Barsky|1997|p=103}} Along with Halle, he also edited the ''[[Studies in Language]]'' series of books for [[Harper and Row]].{{sfn|Barsky|1997|p=104}} As he began to accrue significant academic recognition and honors for his work, Chomsky lectured at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], in 1966.{{sfnm|1a1=Lyons|1y=1978|1p=xvi|2a1=Barsky|2y=1997|2p=120}} These lectures were published as ''[[Language and Mind]]'' in 1968.{{sfn|Barsky|1997|p=122}} In the late 1960s, a high-profile intellectual rift later known as the [[linguistic wars]] developed between Chomsky and some of his colleagues and doctoral students—including [[Paul Postal]], [[John R. Ross|John Ross]], [[George Lakoff]], and [[James D. McCawley]]—who contended that Chomsky's syntax-based, interpretivist linguistics did not properly account for semantic context ([[general semantics]]). A post hoc assessment of this period concluded that the opposing programs ultimately were complementary, each informing the other.{{sfn|Barsky|1997|pp=149–152}}