AW: The appeal of P&P

[Tibor Kiss]

Hi,

Bob Borsley wrote:

> I'm sure Andreas is right that P&P people feel that they are engaged in an
> explanatory enterprize whereas the rest of us are merely describing facts,
> but I think perhaps I draw different conclusions from Andreas.

I think that P&P people share this enlightening experience with people in
Optimality Theory (including LFG people, which are presumably definitely not
P&P, are they?). I also think that Optimality Theory is not (so much at
least) about acquisition but about language universals and language
variation (which is appealing).

In general, one must accept that little comparative work has been carried
out within HPSG. Perhaps this causes other linguists to not prefer HPSG over
comparative analyses, even if these analyses are vague.

Finally, a special rejoinder to Carl who wrote:

> I agree with Detmar here. Inductive generalization has to generalize
> FROM vast numbers of detailed, specific observations.

To me, this sounds distantly like 'grammar discovery procedure'. (invites
rejoinder by JN).

Best

Tibor

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