> ... None of this changes the fact that some of his basic
> theories remain the foundation of modern linguistics.
That is quite close to being true; certainly the style of linguistics he started dominates in North American linguistics departments, and anyone in the field anywhere will at least look at his ideas.
But there are other styles, some of which reject his whole approach. Halliday and other systemicists, for example, or Searle and others talking about "speech acts".
So I'd say you overstate.
-- Sandy Harris Quanzhou, Fujian, China