corpus v. grammar v. intuition

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I you tell me what you mean by "more authority over language" I might begin
to know how to answer the question. But also, I want to know who wrote the
grammar and why; and who collected the corpus, and under what conditions?

Your question really has no meaning without considering these vital
qualifications and discriminations.


In a message dated 11/20/1999 10:54:05 PM, bar32571 at DELTA.OBU.EDU writes:

<< Here is another thing I've been wanting to ask:
A corpus is a body of observations, a collection of linguistic
specimens.  A grammar is a body of rules and representations
describing those specimens, an abstract account of patterns manifest
in the corpus.  Which in your opinion has more authority over
language?  Do either have more than intuition?  This may be
confusing.  Here is an example:  The verb 'perform' cannot be used
with mass-word objects: one can perform a task, but one cannot
perform labour.  This is known without using a corpus or having
studied the verb perform.  But it makes sense to us because we are
native speakers of the English language.  Obviously intuition
wins.  Right?  Look forward to hearing your take, Brittany >>