Bloomfield's Taxemes

[Daniel Everett]

This is a fairly strange response on several grounds, Martha.

First, what has philosophy got  to do with this?

Second, the fact that Bloomfield's proposal is nearly identical and was
made 70 years ago is significant and if there is a bibliographical
omission, it should be rectified.

Third, my question was not rhetorical, it was a genuine information
question. I am working on a survey volume of morphological theories for
OUP and want to make sure that I do not miss any relevant sources. I
would hate to say, for example, that the most prominent linguist of the
30s and one of the most prominent of the 20th century was ignored by
modern theoreticians and then have someone point out a citation I
should have gotten.

As to empirical insights, these can only be gained by comparison,
right? So they require cognizance of the close alternatives and, to use
a verb most common in theoretical linguistics of the East Coast and
Pittsburgh hair styles, 'teasing' apart the difference.

Why would this question seem strange? Why would it not seem potentially
empirical? What on earth would philosophy have to do with it? And since
linguists interested in UG often claim to be epistemologists (said
explicitly, for example, by Robert May in his second LF book), we are
all philosophers anyway.

Dan


On Wednesday, February 19, 2003, at 03:38  pm, Martha McGinnis wrote:

> Dan,
>
>> Are there any explicit comparisons between 'readjustment rules' in
>> DM and SPE with Bloomfield's 'taxemes'?
>
> I'm not quite sure what you're asking.  If you're looking to be
> conscientious about citing published sources that draw this
> comparison, I think it's safe to say there aren't any.  If you're
> hoping to start a discussion of this issue on the list, it might be
> helpful to start by suggesting a basis for comparison.  For my part,
> I'd want to know if any empirical insights can be gained from such a
> comparison.  Otherwise, I'll leave the discussion to the philosophers.
>
> -Martha
> --
> mcginnis at ucalgary.ca
>
>
********************
Daniel L. Everett
Professor of Phonetics and Phonology
Department of Linguistics
N1.14 Arts Building
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester, UK
M13 9PL
Phone: 44-161-275-3158
Department Fax: 44-161-275-3187
http://ling.man.ac.uk/info/staff/de/

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