astronomy

Paul Postal

Paul Postal is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paul Postal rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Martin Postal (born November 10, 1936, in Weehawken, New Jersey) is an American linguist. Biography Postal received a BA in Anthropology and Philosophy in 1957 from Columbia College, and a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 1963.

Key takeaways

Paul Postal belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Paul Postal to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul Postal from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul Martin Postal (born November 10, 1936, in Weehawken, New Jersey) is an American linguist.

Biography Postal received a BA in Anthropology and Philosophy in 1957 from Columbia College, and a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 1963. He taught at MIT until 1965, after which he moved to the City University of New York. In 1967 he was appointed to a research position at IBM and remained on their research staff until 1994. An important figure in the early development of generative grammar, he became a proponent of the generative semantics movement along with George Lakoff, James D. McCawley, and Haj Ross. In the 1970s, with David M. Perlmutter, he developed Relational Grammar. Later, with David E. Johnson, he developed Arc Pair Grammar. These non-transformational theories of grammar have had an indirect but major impact on modern syntactic analysis. Since his involvement with generative semantics, he has been a vocal critic of Noam Chomsky and work done in Chomsky's frameworks.

Selected bibliography Postal, Paul M. (1968). Aspects of phonological theory. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-045248-3 Postal, Paul M. (1972). "The best theory". In S. Peters (Ed.), Goals of linguistic theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-357095-3 Postal, Paul M. (1974) On Raising: One Rule of English Grammar and Its Theoretical Implications. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-26-266041-9 Johnson, David E.; & Postal, Paul M. (1980). Arc pair grammar. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-608-03341-9 Culicover, P. W., & Postal, Paul M. (2000). Parasitic gaps. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-03284-1 Postal, Paul M. (2003). "Policing the Content of Linguistic Examples". Language. 79 (1), 182–188. Postal, Paul M. Skeptical linguistic essays (Oxford University Press, US, 2004). ISBN 978-0-19-516671-2

References

External links Paul M. Postal homepage(NYU) Archived 2010-06-14 at the Wayback Machine Noam Chomsky and the Quest for Social Justice, criticism of Chomsky by Postal

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul Postal

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul Postal claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paul Postal before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paul Postal ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paul Postal

In research: Paul Postal appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paul Postal in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paul Postal is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, American linguist stubs, Linguists from the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul Postal outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Paul Postal in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul Postal means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Paul Postal out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul Postal in simple terms?

Paul Martin Postal (born November 10, 1936, in Weehawken, New Jersey) is an American linguist. Biography Postal received a BA in Anthropology and Philosophy in 1957 from Columbia College, and a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 1963.

Why does Paul Postal matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paul Postal?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paul Postal.