What counts as evidence in linguistics : the case of innateness
The main aim of this paper is to establish the position of historical linguistics in the wider field of linguistics. Section 1 centres on the immediate and long term goals of historical linguistics. Section 2 discusses the type of data that play a role and looks at tools to be used for the analysis of the data. It also addresses the question whether the explanation of the data should be in terms of grammar change (as advocated by formalist linguists) or language change. This latter point automatically leads to the question as to what type of grammatical model or theory the historical linguist
Benjamins current topics, v. 7
1 online resource (ix, 297 pages) : illustrations
9789027292537, 9789027222374, 9027292531, 9027222371
233636505
What Counts as Evidence in Linguistics; Editorial page; LCC data; Table of contents; Preface; What counts as evidence in linguistics? An introduction; Typological evidence and Universal Grammar; Remarks on the relation between language typology and Universal Grammar. Commentary on Newmeyer; Does linguistic explanation presuppose linguistic description?; Remarks on description and explanation in grammar. Commentary on Haspelmath; Author's response; From UG to Universals. Linguistic adaptation through iterated learning. Form, meaning and speakers in the evolution of language. Commentary on Kirby, Smith and BrightonAuthors' response; Why assume UG?; What kind of evidence could refute the UG hypothesis? Commentary onWunderlich; Author's response. Is there any evidence that refutes the UG hypothesis?; A question of relevance. Some remarks on standard languages; The Relevance of Variation. Remarks on Weiß's Standard-Dialect-Problem; Author's response; Universals, innateness and explanation in second language acquisition; 'Internal' versus 'external' universals. Commentary on Eckman. Author's response. 'External' universals and explanation in SLAWhat counts as evidence in historical linguistics?; Abstraction and performance. Commentary on Fischer; Author's response; Subject index; The series Benjamins Current Topics (BCT)