Here's a good source on functional and cognitive approaches to language.
It's designed for the non-linguist:

> Tomasello, Michael. 1998. The new psychology of language:
> cognitive and functional approaches to language structure. Mahwah,
> NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

This should be a good source for understanding what functionalists (at
least some of them) are after.

As to the rest of Robert's message, I'm not clear which point he is asking
us whether we agree or disagree with.

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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
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