Johanna, I'm very grateful for your metaphor involving a fuel injector (whatever that might be) because it illuminates the issue so clearly. Surely, a grammarian who defines grammatical terms only with other grammatical terms is just like a mechanic who explains engine parts exclusively by their relationship with other engine parts, but is unwilling or unable to describe the extrinsic purpose of the engine in non-automobilese, i.e., transporting people from one spot to another. Who cares how a machine -- or a sentence -- works if no one knows what it is for? David > Maybe some people don't like the idea of defining one grammatical term > by referring to other grammatical terms. But grammar is a system of > interdependencies. No one would object to defining a fuel injector by > referring to other car parts and their functions; indeed, there is no > other way to understand the concept of a fuel injector. Grammar deals > with the parts of language and their functions. These all work in > concert to connect meanings to each other. > > I wouldn't go near true/false judgments with a ten-foot pole. There is a > whole tradition in the philosophy of language, along with a > counter-tradition, which explores truth/falsity as a metric for defining > linguistic units. Keyword: truth-conditional semantics. There are > lengthy works that defend the notion that true/false judgments are > crucial to defining a sentence, and others that argue against that > claim. Have fun wading through all that! > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics > English Department, California Polytechnic State University > One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 > Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 > • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ** > "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose, > but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >