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Modern linguistic formalism is not derived from written language at all. I studied at MIT and UConn in the mid '90's and the separation between prescriptive gra
by compay 16y ago
Modern linguistic formalism is not derived from written language at all. I studied at MIT and UConn in the mid '90's and the separation between prescriptive grammar and linguistics is pretty clear.
That's not to say that current approaches to linguistics are correct; I don't know enough to make that judgement. But I think the problem lies more in the complexity of the domain - not because modern linguists are so foolish as to base theory on written language.
- CWuestefeld 16y agoIt's quite possible I'm behind the times. not because modern linguists are so foolish as to base theory on written language That was actually what I was trying to get at. While there are clearly some rules we follow when speaking, they are much more open than those governing our writing. It's odd, though, or at least counterintuitive, that our comprehensive of these less-structured spoken communications is higher than that of more-structured written ones.