Chomsky & Levi-Strauss

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of the USM mainframe sooo I had the pleasure of reading all the replies
at once and realized that I must be drowning in the naivity of my youth.
One problem is there is very little linguistic information in the whole
library system of maine, and less on Levi-Strauss but I keep plugging.
Thanks for all the suggests, I have one question though (here's where
I seem to be gasping for air) There seemed be quite a bit of dispute
over "deep structure" and "innateness". What I find so wonderful about
Chomsky's work is that it is the first time anyone has solidly shown
how "nature" provides a comprehensive structure that allows for
a wide variance(infinate as the computer generation example ?Jana?
mentioned showed). One possible question I thought might yield
ineresting results is then how the culture "transforms" the structure
to fit its needs. In other words, if you assume there is a basic
structure, looking at how different languages deal with this structure
may give insight into the "cultural mind".
Am I asking the wrong questions, has someone else already asked
them, or have I just not become an "anthropologist" yet? (Y'now
they say you haven't truly become a horseperson (equestrienne, in my
case) until you have fallen off at least once (I've eaten much arena dirt)

I am most interested in the processes a child must go through to acquire
language and culture, in their mind that is. What shifts of perception?
There is a meditation center in western mass that help participants
"clear their slates" and come back to an "original state"? Is
this what could be termed as those "cultural" universals in a sense?
Am I barking at the wrong tree?? Have a good one >>sorry for such
a long post Patricia

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