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Connected speech : the interaction of syntax and phonology

only two generations. Its fall was not due to any defect in its syntactic theory; rather, the attack was directed at its philosophical underpinning, at the modi significant themselves. Forced to focus on metatheoretical issues, the Modistae were distracted from the further elaboration of their syntactic theory, which rapidly faded into obscurity. As Covington points out (131)-and it is a point which linguists often forget-even in its heyday modistic grammar was an esoteric subject restricted to a small band of enthusiasts. Only after it was already under attack did it begin to filter down into lower levels of instruction in a dilute form; and it was only the showpiece of the theory, the modi significandi themselves, which were so perpetuated. Modistic syntactic theory never succeeded in displacing the regimen-based theory of the 'normative' tradition, which, unlike modistic syntax, can legitimately claim a continuous tradition from the rediscovery of Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae in the ninth century (Law, 1985) to the Renaissance and beyond. Not even Covington's modest claim on page 1 that 'some concepts, such as government and dependency', of present-day theory are derived ultimately from the work of the Modistae, is borne out by his own story. We are reminded not for the first time that linguistics, like any other intellectual discipline, is subject to fashion. Just as the Modistae, with their very modern preoccupations, were elbowed out of the way by an unappreciative generation of youngsters, so their present-day counterparts can expect one day to find their most central questions branded irrelevant. In the meantime, however, they will find this introduction to the work of their precursors fascinating reading.