Linguistic meta-theory the formal and empirical conditions of acceptability of linguistic theories and descriptions
Most linguists acknowledge, explicitly or implicitly, the relevance of epistemological questions in linguistics but relatively few have given more than a cursory, ad hoc or incomplete consideration to them. The work of one of those few, Jan Mulder, forms the starting point for much of the present discussion. Epistemological considerations arise in many contexts in linguistics and in many guises. It is an epistemological matter whenever we test the adequacy of a description or the acceptability of a theory. Epistemological considerations are latent whenever we discuss the form or the content of linguistic theories and descriptions or their interrelations. The comparison of different approaches to linguistics inevitably raises epistemological questions concerning our approach to linguistics or our presuppositions about it. These questions are of a general nature and transcend questions about particular linguistic theories and descriptions. These epistemological questions force us to consider what we take linguistics to be. In considering questions of the type mentioned we are forced, for example, to analyse what we mean by a ~linguistic theory~, a ~linguistic description~ and what phenomena we are aiming to
Rastall, P. R.
P121.R2 ; Linguistics ; Linguistics--Philosophy ; Linguistics--Research
Linguistic meta-theory the formal and empirical conditions of acceptability of linguistic theories and descriptions. Most linguists acknowledge, explicitly or implicitly, the relevance of epistemological questions in linguistics but relatively few have given more than a cursory, ad hoc or incomplete consideration to them. The work of one of those few, Jan Mulder, forms the starting point for much of the present discussion. Epistemological considerations arise in many contexts in linguistics and in many guises. It is an epistemological matter whenever we test the adequacy of a description or the acceptability of a theory. Epistemological considerations are latent whenever we discuss the form or the content of linguistic theories and descriptions or their interrelations. The comparison of different approaches to linguistics inevitably raises epistemological questions concerning our approach to linguistics or our presuppositions about it. These questions are of a general nature and transcend questions about particular linguistic theories and descriptions. These epistemological questions force us to consider what we take linguistics to be. In considering questions of the type mentioned we are forced, for example, to analyse what we mean by a ~linguistic theory~, a ~linguistic description~ and what phenomena we are aiming to
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