Eduard's #2 below made me think about when I took statistics as a graduate
student.  I kept asking my professors why certain formulas worked.  I
thought that if I understood what the function was, memorizing the
formulas would be easier, and the entire process would make sense.  The
professors never answered my questions, and I began to think that they
didn't know either.

Until after I had started teaching grammar, it never occurred to me to ask
how or why grammar works.  Maybe many people feel as if they can speak
well enough to be understood, and that's all that matters.
Jan


On Fri, 17 Mar 2006, Eduard C. Hanganu wrote:

> Dear Linda:
> 
> I have an answer in two points to your question:
> 
> 1. If the student knows grammar, can he analyze and explain the 
> syntactic structure he generated? 
> 
> 2. What if our knowledge of language structure and function is very 
> rudimentary, and while we can use language we cannot explain its 
> functions?
> 
> And let me make an analogy that I believe applies quite well to our 
> discussion: You probably have a car, like most of us, and that car is 
> controlled by a computer. Does the fact that you are a good driver,  
> mean that you can troubleshoot your car?
> 
> Eduard 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, 17 Mar 2006, Linda Didesidero wrote...
> 
> >While I agree with some of what you are saying, Eduard, I believe  
> that you 
> >have opened a discussion thread that will be quite interesting to  
> follow!
> > 
> >
> >You wrote: "The idea that the "native speaker knows more grammar 
> than has  
> >ever 
> >been printed in any grammar books" is PURE NONSENSE"
> > 
> >And here's a response based on recent discussions:  Informed by  
> his/her own 
> >grammar, a student can write a sentence such as "Running from the  
> neck to the 
> >cheek is a patch of white hair" and the grammar experts can debate  
> about the 
> >grammatical structure of this sentence for days!  In this  case, the 
> >student's grammar informs the structure that the grammarians cannot  
> agree on.  Who 
> >knows more grammar? 
> > 
> >I think that is what the statement actually means. I don't think it  
> has 
> >anything to do with Chomsky's LAD or wiring or anything.  
> > 
> >Looking forward to other responses--
> >Linda
> >
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