“Human beings can create an infinite number of thoughts from limited data.”

Recognized with the 11th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Humanities, linguist Noam Chomsky explains how his work has transformed our understanding of human language by revealing it as a uniquely biological capacity of our species. He highlights that, from limited input, any person can generate an infinite range of structured expressions that both constitute and communicate thought—a trait unmatched in the biological world. Chomsky emphasizes that this ability, shared across all cultures and emerging with the rise of Homo sapiens, underpins human creativity, while advances in computational theory and biolinguistics have made it possible to describe its inner principles with unprecedented precision.

The 11th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Humanities category went to Noam Chomsky “for his unparalleled contributions to the study of human language,” in the words of the award committee.