Neil Smith (Linguist)

Neil Smith FBA (actually Neilson Voyne Smith ; * 1939 ) is a British linguist and professor emeritus of linguistics at University College London .

His doctoral thesis in 1964 dealt with the grammar of the Nigerian nupe language . Since then he has been doing research on language syntax, language acquisition, savant syndrome and language theory in general, with the work of Noam Chomsky being a focus.

In the 1990s he worked with Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli to study Christopher, an autistic person . According to Smith and Tsimpli, Christopher has an IQ between 60 and 70 for his non-linguistic abilities, but his ability to express himself in English is comparable to that of normal English speakers. In addition, it is extremely easy for him to learn new languages.

Smith was head of the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at University College London from 1983 to 1990, and the Department of Linguistics was under his direction from 1972 until his retirement in 2006.

Smith is a Fellow of the British Academy .

Publications

• An Outline Grammar of Nupe (Luzac, 1967)
• The Acquisition of Phonology (Cambridge University Press, 1973)
• Modern Linguistics: The Results of Chomsky's Revolution (with Deirdre Wilson; Penguin, 1979)
• The Twitter Machine: Reflections on Language (Blackwell, 1989)
• The Mind of a Savant (with Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli; Blackwell, 1995)
• Chomsky: Ideas and Ideals (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
• Language, Bananas and Bonobos: Linguistic Problems, Puzzles and Polemics (Blackwell, 2002)

Web links

• Neil Smith's web presence at UCL