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Randy, I certainly agree with the thrust of your argument. However,
here as elsewhere, there are degrees. Grammaticalization is
'formalization', subjection to rules of grammar. The lower the
grammatical level (the level of complexity), the more rigid the
rules. It seems to me that there are straightforward grammaticality
judgements at the lowest level, viz. the level of inflectional
morphology. If an informant tells me that one does not say <i>goed</i>,
but instead <i>went</i>, this is not a question of being able to
think up a situation of use, but just a report on the linguistic
experience of one's lifetime.<br>
<br>
But again, I fully agree as far as judgements at higher levels of
complexity are concerned.<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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