Re: THEORY: How many parameters, constraints, or "types" are there?

Surely, the question of the number of simultaneous languages is something
of a red herring. Whether parameters, constraints, or some combination of
theories explains the possible grammars, we should expect those limits to
apply to the entire sum of all possible languages, not to a snapshot of
languages at any point of time. That would be like expecting them to
account for all the languages of Chicago over the entire period of human
existence.

Bear in mind that languages are defined by lexical items as well as
grammatical rules. There are (arguably) infinetely more ways of devising a
word for "mother" than there are grammatical ways to mark "my mother"
distinct from "your mother".

FWIW, I rather suspect there are several thousand parameters, excluding
millions or billions more for lexical choice.



Paul