Evolution, and 'functional' + 'social'

[Sherman Wilcox]

On 12/8/02, Dan Everett said:

>If functional linguistics is right to believe that (most of) syntax is
>motivated by communicative needs

I would hope that functional linguists don't believe this. I would no more claim that "syntax is motivated by communicative needs" than an evolutionary biologist would claim that structure is motivated by functional needs.

--
Sherman Wilcox
Department of Linguistics
University of New Mexico