Rules vs. Lists

[David Tuggy]

In the minds of language users, including linguists. Hopefully what 
linguists consciously analyze and posit as rules will be such as to 
parallel what is in users' minds. Otherwise they are less interesting 
objects, at least for those who had hopes of their illuminating what 
language is.

Certainly one cannot assume that every rule a linguist has posited has 
an analogue in anyone else’s mind, much less that such an analogue is 
used in actual language processing. But many, I reckon, do and are.

--David Tuggy

dharv at mail.optusnet.com.au wrote:
> At 7:11 PM -0500 2/7/08, David Tuggy wrote:
>
>> If it should turn out that there are, entrenched in the minds of 
>> users of a language,
>
> Do rules exist in the minds of language users or the minds of linguists?