Nontransformational Syntax

Abstract

Last year at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee there was a conference about the theory of syntax. Fourteen different theories of syntax were discussed at this conference. The aim of the conference was to see if there could be some measure of agreement about syntactic theory. I did not attend the conference but I am told that at the end of the conference there were still fourteen theories of syntax, maybe even more. I like to look behind disagreements about details and notice agreements that were sometimes apparent in the heat of discussions and battle. I don't know about Korean linguists but in America linguists love to argue, and it is very hard for many linguists to say, "Yes," when someone says, "Well, you really agree with me, don't you?" Then they usually say, "No." There is a story about Noam Chomsky, who, I think, is perhaps most argumentative of all. He was giving a lecture at a university in Canada, and someone in the audience got up and said, "Well, I agree with you because of this and this..." and Noam Chomsky immediately said, "No, you don't."