Wednesday, April 16, 2008

We've been over this

It's our premise here and I hold it so dear that it always seems obvious to me -- but it's worth repeating:

Linguists do not hold an 'anything goes' attitude. We do not argue that there are no rules in language. We do not say that any utterance is grammatical as long as someone says it. Not even if someone else understands it.

Linguists are interested in what 'goes' and what 'doesn't go' in language. We argue that there are more rules and constraints in language than most grammarians realize.

And we don't think that advice on good writing is tyrannical or unnecessary.

Quit making all those false accusations.

2 comments:

  1. If only you weren't preaching to the choir. :-(

    PS Great post by Pullum on the LL about peevologist recently, as I'm sure you saw.

    ReplyDelete

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