This is somewhat offtopic, but Chomsky speaks that way to stop his detractors from talking about his style. If he's too loud, too animated, too flashy, people w

This is somewhat offtopic, but Chomsky speaks that way to stop his detractors from talking about his style. If he's too loud, too animated, too flashy, people will focus on him as a person as opposed to his ideas. His solution is to be as bland as possible, in the hope this forces people to engage with the substance and nothing else.