The Myth of G

[H Stephen Straight]

>
> To: "Tony A. Wright" <twright at intersatx.net>
>
> I'm sorry, Tony, if I put words in your mouth.  What may have caused this
> misunderstanding is the (grammatical!) distinction between "grammar" (mass
> noun) versus "grammars" (count noun).  There's lots of grammar out there, and
> inside our heads, but the only grammars we know of are in books.  To the
> extent that what you said implied the existence of a body of implicit
> knowledge that mediates or maps or otherwise exists independently of the
> actual objects and processes of language comprehension, production, or
> acquisition, then you were -- knowingly or not -- perpetuating the Myth of
> G.  But to the extent that you were merely defending the term grammar as a
> cover term for the categories and relations that clearly exist among words
> and phrases, then you are quite right to be contemptuous of anyone who would
> deny the existence of such categories and relations or prohibit the use of
> the term grammar to refer to them.  I did not mean to be doing that, but if
> that's what it sounded like, I apologize.




                Best.           'Bye.           Steve