biblatex autocite doesn't display dates in citation

Question

I am using biblatex to build my bibliography and am not sure why the date is not displaying in the citations themselves. I'm sure I'm missing some option but I can't figure out why the dates are not displaying.

    \documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{blabla}
\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[a4paper,left=2.5cm,right=2.5cm,top=3cm,bottom=4cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\lhead{blabla}
\rhead{blabla}
\usepackage[style=mla,backend=biber]{biblatex}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\onehalfspace

\addbibresource{mla-test-bib.bib}

\begin{document}

\title{blabla}
\author{blabla}


\maketitle

\thispagestyle{fancy}

For \cite{Wittgenstein1953-WITPI-4} it seems as though word meaning is inherently tied to its use in language. \cite{chomsky1986knowledge} goes a slightly different way about it and says that the results of language acquisition seem to him to be instantaneous because the “intermediate states attained do not change the principles available for the interpretation of data at later stages in a way that affects the state attained”. Furthermore, he seems to conclude that humans are innately provided with a stock of concepts, and that the task of a child is to discover their labels (names)\autocite{chomsky_smith_2000}. \cite{Wittgenstein1953-WITPI-4} too, rejects the notion of behaviourism \autocite{hutto2000beyond}. This is the theory that human or animal behaviour is based on mental training and the influence of habit, rather than being explained by thoughts and feelings. For supporters of behaviourism, reflexes and individual history (like reinforcement and punishment) play a far more important role than heredity.

This is my code from the main.tex file where the doc is built and below is the bibliography file.

   @book{Wittgenstein1953-WITPI-4,
    publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
    title = {Philosophical Investigations},
    year = {1953},
    author = {Ludwig Wittgenstein}
}

@book{chomsky1986knowledge,
  title={Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use},
  author={Chomsky, N.},
  isbn={9780275900250},
  series={Convergence (New York, N.Y.)},
  url={https://books.google.gr/books?id=b0VZPtZDL8kC},
  year={1986},
  publisher={Praeger},
  note={p. 54}
}

@book{chomsky_smith_2000, 
title={New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind}, 
DOI={10.1017/CBO9780511811937}, 
publisher={Cambridge University Press}, 
author={Chomsky, N. and Smith, N.}, 
year={2000}, 
note={pp. 64-66}
}

Answer 1

MLA style does not show years in citations. See for example https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html and https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html. In MLA style you only give the author name and if required the title to distinguish two works by the same author(s).

If you want author-year citations, use style=authoryear.

\documentclass[american]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}

\usepackage[style=authoryear, backend=biber]{biblatex}


\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@article{sigfridsson,
  author   = {Sigfridsson, Emma and Ryde, Ulf},
  title    = {Comparison of methods for deriving atomic charges from the
              electrostatic potential and moments},
  journal  = {Journal of Computational Chemistry},
  date     = 1998,
  volume   = 19,
  number   = 4,
  pages    = {377-395},
  doi      = {10.1002/(SICI)1096-987X(199803)19:4<377::AID-JCC1>3.0.CO;2-P},
}
@book{chomsky_smith_2000,
  author    = {Chomsky, N. and Smith, N.}, 
  title     = {New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind}, 
  year      = {2000}, 
  DOI       = {10.1017/CBO9780511811937}, 
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, 
}
\end{filecontents}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}


\begin{document}
Lorem \autocite[64-66]{chomsky_smith_2000}
ipsum \autocite[380-382]{sigfridsson}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

---

It is uncommon to give page references for books in the bibliography (see for example Page Range in Bibliography Item without Modifying .bib Entry). Normally pinpoint references to certain range of pages are only given in the citations. Page ranges are normally only added in the bibliography if they are used to locate the whole work in a larger container (for example an @article in a journal or an @incollection in a booktitle). In the example above sigfridsson is an @article located in a larger work and thus has a pages field, but chomsky_smith_2000 refers to the complete book and does not have a pages field. In both cases you can give a specific page reference in the citation.

Answer 2

MLA style doesn't show years in citations: owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/…. Use style=authoryear, to get normal author-year citations. – moewe