Is grammar derivable/motivated/explainable?

Martin Haspelmath haspelmath at EVA.MPG.DE
Tue Mar 9 14:26:03 UTC 1999


I agree with Christer Platzack that the issue is not whether one uses
the word "derive" or similar words such as "motivate" or "explain".
Clearly, functionalists generally argue that grammatical structures can
be motivated/explained on the basis of extra-grammatical factors.

The real problem with the passage cited by Oesten Dahl from Christer
Platzack's textbook is the passage immediately before, highlighted by me
in the following:

"There are other current theories of grammar that DO NOT ASSUME an
independent internal grammar, such as functional grammar, according to
which grammar is derivable from language use..."

But of course, most functionalists do agree that there is an internal
grammar, and that this is precisely what we need to explain.

Platzack's statement is correct only if by "independent" he means
"unexplainable".

Martin



--
Dr. Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at eva.mpg.de)
Max-Planck-Institut fuer evolutionaere Anthropologie, Inselstr. 22
D-04103 Leipzig (Tel. (MPI) +49-341-9952 307, (priv.) +49-341-980 1616)



More information about the Funknet mailing list