[3] More recently, Newmeyer argued that facts about linguistic typology are better explained by parsing constraints than by the principles and parameters model of grammar.
[4] Nevertheless, he has continued to defend the basic principles of generative grammar, arguing that Ferdinand de Saussure's langue/parole distinction as well Noam Chomsky's distinction between linguistic competence and linguistic performance are essentially correct.
He received his BA in geology from the University of Rochester in 1965 and his MA in linguistics from that same institution two years later.
Newmeyer was awarded a PhD in linguistics from the University of Illinois in 1969, writing a dissertation entitled English Aspectual Verbs under the direction of Robert B. Lees.
In his 20s and 30s Newmeyer was heavily involved in left politics, being an active member of Students for a Democratic Society in the late 1960s and of the International Socialists from 1971 to 1977.