Re: Interesting posts on Linguist List...

In article <wHAvh.16126$pQ3.774@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Alex&Ilene Gross" <alexilen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Perhaps most interesting is the highly civilized level of reaction we have
heard on Linguist List to all these contributions amid a truly moderated
dialogue.

How is it "interesting" that a moderated forum is civilized? Isn't
that the expected result? What else are the moderators for?

Even the so-called moderator of this group

There is no such thing. This is an unmoderated group.

I do not for an instant intend to apologize for the objective reality that
my own experience of language far exceeds that of my would-be critics.

All of them?

I see no reason at all to
suppose that my broader background can possibly be inferior to the narrow,
doctrine-dominated education marking the high point for at least a few who
have foregathered here.

That's because you're failing to grasp the difference between use and
analysis.

Simply taking a lot of drugs does not make one an expert on
pharmacology, and being an expert on pharmacology doesn't require
taking even a single drug.

It would be a pleasant relief if some of you, if you are not capable of
absorbing the material I have pointed out and are equally incapable of
responding to it in a positive manner, could for once in your lives simply
reply by saying nothing.

Translation: "If you don't agree with me, shut up."

Here's something positive that will hopefully help you better direct
your energies: Despite what the popular media and rabid
anti-Chomskyans will tell you, "mainstream" linguistics (if such a
thing can even be said to exist!) is not some monolithic cult devoted
to Chomsky's every word. In fact, with so much work being done in
LFG, HPSG, OT, variationism, etc., it seems like most linguists are
working with anything *but* Chomsky's pet theories!

Your obsessive focus on Chomsky has blinded you to the true richness
that can be found in modern linguistics, and your constant limited
characterization of all linguists as Chomsky's mindless drones comes
across as woefully uninformed and laughably outdated.

Nathan

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Nathan Sanders
Linguistics Program
Williams College
http://wso.williams.edu/~nsanders/

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

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