Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics

[john at research.haifa.ac.il]

Fritz,
What you've written here certainly doesn't seem at all inconsistent with the
interpretation I had. As you describe it, it seems difficult to ascribe any
intention to the issue other than self-congratulations and self-promotion.
It's difficult for me to imagine a journal in any other academic field being
devoted to discussion of the question 'why is our line of research so
prestigious among other academic disciplines?' In physics? In sociology? In
psychology? In literature? In chemistry? In history? That generativists could
even think that this is a topic to be discussed in a journal suggests that
something pretty weird is going on with regards to substance vs. image.
Best wishes,
John







Quoting Frederick J Newmeyer <fjn at u.washington.edu>:

> John,
>
> You are reading much too much diabolical intent into all of this. I am one of
> a dozen or so commentators on a target article that will appear in a
> generative-oriented journal. The authors set out to try to explain why, given
> that (generative) linguistics is so abstract and 'asocial', it enjoys so much
> prestige in related academic disciplines. That's all. I shouldn't say more,
> since the article has not been published yet.
>
> --fritz
>
>
> Frederick J. Newmeyer
> Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
> Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University
> [for my postal address, please contact me by e-mail]
>
> On Sun, 24 Oct 2010, john at research.haifa.ac.il wrote:
>
> > My question to Fritz had in the background the feeling that maybe something
> > like this might be going on in the case of the article that he was asked to
> > comment on--that is, that it is some sort of ad campaign for generative
> > linguistics and Fritz was recruited as someone who might provide legitimacy
> to
> > it (presumably without the inviter being aware that Fritz didn't
> necessarily
> > see things the same way). This would explain why (1) the article simply
> assumed
> > the great contribution of linguistics rather than demonstrating anything,
> (2)
> > linguistics was equated with generative linguistics, and (3) applied
> > disciplines were ruled out as irrelevant.
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting alex gross <language at sprynet.com>:
> >
> >>> The Gene Searchinger  films sets 'The Human Language' and 'The Writing
> >>> Code' a\offer quite positive views of the value of linguistics and
> >>> linguists.
> >>
> >> Thanks, Lise!  And best wishes to you, Fritz!
> >>
> >> It is scarcely surprising that Gene Searchinger's "The Human Language"
> >> presents "quite positive views of the value of linguistics and linguists."
> >> This film was never anything but an in-house endorsement of generative
> >> theories, most probably intended to shepherd students from other fields
> >> into linguistics and to reassure the general public that important work
> was
> >> being done.  You can read the review I wrote of this film when it first
> >> came out fifteen years ago at:
> >>
> >> http://language.home.sprynet.com/lingdex/emperor.htm
> >>
> >> where I also coupled it with a brief review of Stephen Pinker's book "The
> >> Language Instinct" that appeared around the same time.
> >>
> >> My further review of Pinker's book, also mentioning Searchinger's film,
> can
> >> be found at:
> >>
> >> http://language.home.sprynet.com/lingdex//bigbird.htm
> >>
> >> While writing these reviews I had some contact with the film's producers
> and
> >> gained the
> >> impression that they were full-fledged acolytes of the generative
> movement.
> >>
> >> Very best to everyone!
> >>
> >> alex
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Lise Menn" <lise.menn at Colorado.EDU>
> >> To: "Frederick J Newmeyer" <fjn at u.washington.edu>
> >> Cc: <funknet at mailman.rice.edu>
> >> Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2010 12:23 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics
> >>
> >>
> >>> Fritz:
> >>> The Gene Searchinger  films sets 'The Human Language' and 'The  Writing
> >>> Code' a\offer quite positive views of the value of linguistics  and
> >>> linguists.  And 'The Linguists', of course.
> >>>
> >>> Lise Menn
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Today's Topics:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>  1. Re: Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics (Craig Hancock)
> >>>>>  2. The view of mathematicians is quite negative (Yuri Tambovtsev)
> >>>>>  3. Re: Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics
> >>>>>     (Brian MacWhinney)
> >>>>>  4. Re: Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics (Mark P. Line)
> >>>>>  5. Re: Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics (Thomas E.  Payne)
> >>>>>  6. Re: Outsiders' views of the value of linguistics (Craig Hancock)
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > This message was sent using IMP, the Webmail Program of Haifa University
> >
>
>




------------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Webmail Program of Haifa University