Re: linguistic dogma

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Article #3071

#3071

From: Michael Hand
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 1994 03:36

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Jacques Guy <jbm@newsserver.trl.oz.au> wrote:
  > So there you are. Reject the data that contradicts the theory. Even
  > better: fabricate data to prop up the theory (the rat that the cat 
  > that the dog chased caught squealed).

Huh?  Center-embedding produces intuitively *unacceptable* sentences 
pretty fast, as your example shows.  Its unacceptability is a datum.
Nonetheless, it is as grammatical as all get-out.  What's been 
"fabricated" here?
==================================================================
        Capitalism and the wage system must be abolished; they are
          twin monsters which are eating up the life of the world.
					       -- Bertrand Russell
==================================================================
Michael Hand                      (409)845-5660, fax (409)845-0458
Philosophy Dept, Texas A&M Univ, College Station TX 77843-4237 USA
hand@tam2000.tamu.edu                               mhand@tamu.edu

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From: hand@tam2000.tamu.edu (Michael Hand)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,bit.listserv.words-l
Subject: Re: linguistic dogma
Date: 7 Aug 1994 03:36:42 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
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