Question
Two answers required. Michael Devitt’s theory prioritizes one of these systems since it is a “datable, placeable, part of the physical world” while their coiner prioritizes the other, since “there is nothing in the world selected by such terms as ‘Chinese’ and ‘German.’” For 10 points each:
[10h] Name these two systems, one of which is a computational system in a person’s brain responsible for their linguistic competence and the other of which is the actual language they speak.
ANSWER: I-languages and E-languages
[10m] This cognitive scientist’s book Knowledge of Language introduced the distinction between I-languages and E-languages. This author of the book Cartesian Linguistics championed analytic philosophy in a 1971 debate with Michel Foucault.
ANSWER: Noam Chomsky [or Avram Noam Chomsky]
[10e] Chomsky’s Cartesian Linguistics claims that this theory was foreshadowed by a rationalist textbook published alongside the Port-Royal Logic. Chomsky developed this theory that holds there are innate constraints on human language.
ANSWER: universal grammar [or UG] (The textbook is the Port-Royal Grammar.)
<JC, Philosophy (Contemporary)>
Data
Summary
| Tournament | Edition | Exact Match? | Heard | PPB | Easy % | Medium % | Hard % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 RMP Fest Online Mirror | 05/31/25 | Y | 5 | 20.00 | 100% | 60% | 40% |
| 2025 RMP Fest Carleton Mirror | 07/13/25 | Y | 3 | 13.33 | 100% | 33% | 0% |
| 2025 RMP Fest CO Mirror | 08/10/25 | Y | 6 | 16.67 | 83% | 83% | 0% |