Chomsky was right: We have a 'grammar' in our head
ceasefiremagazine.co.uk Noam Chomsky This story about each of us possessing an internal grammar buried in the functions of our brains brings this blog full circle. It was a post, Your Brain Spots Grammar Error You Might Miss , that gave me the idea for Science News for Writers (SNfW). My feeling is that Latinate grammars are an artificial construct applied to English, which we all should know to be a weird conglomeration of ancient Celtic mixed into a stew of German and French seasoned with both made-up words and a sprinkling of words from many other languages that changes faster than the OED can add new words and drop those whose fad has passed. Trying to force what amounts the foot of a platypus into a rigid Latin shoe strikes me as a very pure form of mental masturbation. A lot of fun while you're doing it, but what have you got when you're done?This research out of the University of Oregon was, at least to me, something most writers of any field wo...