[Corpora-List] Chomsky and computationnel linguistics

[Mike Maxwell]

John F. Sowa wrote:
> It is truly sad when a man who had taught us all a great deal at
> one time long ago has walled himself off from any input that might
> raise questions he had decided to ignore five decades ago.

Let me take the devil's advocate position here, in hopes of provoking 
some discussion.  What is the evidence from corpora that would raise 
these questions, and what are the questions Chomsky is ignoring?

(I think we've all heard the argument that a probability can be 
calculated for 'colorless green ideas sleep furiously' which 
is--contrary to Chomsky's original argument--greater than zero, based on 
the probabilities of the parts.  I'm asking if this, or anything else 
from corpora, would plausibly lead to a different way of viewing human 
language acquisition, particularly of syntax.)
-- 
	Mike Maxwell
	maxwell at umiacs.umd.edu
	"Theorists...have merely to lock themselves in a room
	with a blackboard and coffee maker to conduct their business."
	--Bruce A. Schumm, Deep Down Things