Jonathan Kaye (linguist)

Jonathan Derek Kaye (born 1942) is an influential linguist who specialises in phonology. He is recognized as one of the founders of Government Phonology.

Kaye traveled extensively, studying native languages in the area (Ex. languages of North and South America, the Ivory Coast, Slavic, Semitic, France, and others) and would frequently protest the idea that languages were radically different from one another:

From our point of view as English speakers, a language such as Chinese might seem totally different from our own. In fact, these two languages as well as all other human languages are nearly identical. The differences that seem all important to us are relatively minor. (Jonathan Kaye 1989: 54).