He had some interesting ideas about language development in the 70s which have mostly been debunked since (by people who actually knew what they were talking about).
I studied linguistics in the 90s, and that was the general attitude about Chomsky then (specifically universal grammar and to some extent X-bar theory—his work on generative syntax and formal grammar from the 50s was still considered foundational).
But I’ve lately discovered the research of the Minimalist program that he was working on for the last few decades, and that seems pretty solid and cutting-edge.
He had some interesting ideas about language development in the 70s which have mostly been debunked since (by people who actually knew what they were talking about).
Noam Chomspky has always been a blowhard.
I studied linguistics in the 90s, and that was the general attitude about Chomsky then (specifically universal grammar and to some extent X-bar theory—his work on generative syntax and formal grammar from the 50s was still considered foundational).
But I’ve lately discovered the research of the Minimalist program that he was working on for the last few decades, and that seems pretty solid and cutting-edge.