The rest of us on Chomsky

[david_tuggy at SIL.ORG]

     In the interests of Chomsky-discussion rather than Chomsky-bashing:

     It seems clear that a number of people on this list think at least
     some of Chomsky's ideas have been problematic for linguistics rather
     than helpful.

     I'd enjoy hearing from any who'd like to respond to questions of the
     following sort.

     What do you see as *the* most problematic/pernicious/unhelpful of
     Chomsky's theoretical positions / basic analytical stances / posited
     grammatical mechanisms / etc. ?

     What's wrong with it? Why is it so bad?

     What's right with it? Why has it convinced so many intelligent people?

     How does your favorite alternative (functionalist or not) avoid what
     was wrong with it and keep what was right?

     --David Tuggy