autonomous syntax

[Ellen F. Prince]

"Philip A. Bralich, Ph.D." <bralich at HAWAII.EDU> writes:

>This discussion of autonomous syntax has me somewhat baffled.  For my
>thinking the discussion of whether or not syntax is autonomous is a little
>like asking if
>a skeleton is autonomous from the body it supports.  Certainly, in some sense
>it is.  But of course the body cannot survive without a skeleton and the
>skeleton cannot survive without the rest of the body.  Thus, it is not at
>all autonomous.  Given this rather ordinary observation, it strikes me as
>rather odd that there should be any discussion at all of the autonomy of
>syntax.  It is just as autonomous to language as a skeleton is to the body.
                                      ^^^^^^^^
>Taking either side of this issue is just missing the point and missing the
>reality of what language is.

gee, well now THAT really clears things up, doesn't it? ;)

uh, to my knowledge, no one has ever claimed that syntax is autonomous from
*language*. shame, because it would be a claim that everyone from san diego to
cambridge could agree to reject... :)