Intuition, intonation, inconsistency, and innateness

Abstract Macaulay has performed a great service by pointing out unfounded leaps of logic in the syllable sections of descriptive grammars, but the auxiliary hypotheses that underlie such leaps require close scrutiny everywhere, including in his own argument: intuitions are more reliable than he claims, intonation is less reliable than he assumes, inconsistencies cannot be resolved by simply ignoring certain types of evidence, and innateness considerations qualify all linguistic argumentation.