Reflections, etc--Another point of view...

[Alexander Gross2]

I sent a copy of the entire 183 KB grammaticalization/epiphenomena 
discussion file to an English friend with an M.A. in linguistics, someone 
who regularly publishes technical articles about language & currently 
resides in Germany.  Here was his reaction:
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Have flicked though it and find it quite tame and utterly boring. It's this 
sort of linguistics that alienates me from linguistics.

In all the exchanges, there is not one reference to foreign languages or 
even speaking English that I can see. It's philosophy.

Linguistics has become a talking shop for talking about language and not 
learning foreign ones! In this way, these funknetters are as adrift as the 
sic-langeurs.* Just to annoy you, I think it's mostly a US-American 
phenomenon (sic). Smile!

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*"sic langeurs" is my friend's term for those linguists who forgather on the 
sci.lang USENET newsgroup.

all the best!

alex