"I never said that StratGram can explain things better than TGG. I said it had the same reductionist flaws. It and all the theories influenced by Chomsky are

"I never said that StratGram can explain things better than TGG. I said it had the same reductionist flaws. It and all the theories influenced by Chomsky are really outgrowths of Bloomfieldian structuralism and share its underlying orientation. As you say, in many ways they are all extensionally equivalent. The field needs to move beyond all of them. Don't know what assumptions you are referring to, but a forum like this really isn't the place for detailed arguments (even though I used to require my students to provide data, analysis, and argument in two-page, double spaced papers). Just check out J. R. Firth, and read him not for the outdated details but to see what his underlying assumptions are." -My dad