text_combined: basic word order somewhat delayed reaction frederick newmeyer posting basic word order prepared let someone else comment underlying logic newmeyer message happen however comes newmeyer observes data given language seldom exhibits unambiguous basic word order seem generally agreedupon criteria resolve ambiguity notes fact reveals weakness functionalist linguistics polite terms presents challenge adds two occasions generative linguistics increasingly coming share weakness increasingly must mean fact applications principlesand parameters approach taking languageparticular crosslinguistic data account seriously used case developments generative linguistics decreed every configurational language sort basic word order specified phrase structure x bar component grammar newmeyer seems suggest type basic word order share weakness increasingly becoming characteristic generative linguistics difference earlier generative linguistics current generative linguistics respective conceptions basic word order resides fact former whereas latter pay systematic attention cross linguistic data newmeyer formulation seems suggest paying attention cross linguistic data strength theory esa itkonen