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<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%"
lang="en-US"> I second Bill’s verdict that terms are not defined
in isolation; definitions have their place in a theory. The
concepts defined have their place in a taxonomy and/or meronomy.
And since our theories are empirical theories, if two objects <span
lang="en-US">systematically share some ascertainable property,
then it is useful to subsume them under a suitable hyperonym.
For instance, if you have a language in which not only
interrogative pronouns, but also interrogative pro-adjectives
and even interrogative pro-adverbs share some formal properties
like starting with </span><span lang="en-US"><i>wh-</i></span><span
lang="en-US"> and some behavioral properties like preferring the
initial focus position etc., then a hyperonym like
‘interrogative proform’ is useful. And once you have defined it
(in your theory of interrogation, grammaticalization (of
proforms) etc.), you can even use it in the description of a
language whose interrogative proforms do not seem to share
formal properties or which does not even seem to have such a
class, just in order to conveniently state this fact. Needless
to say, the same goes for personal pronouns, proforms in general
and just anything.</span></p>
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<p style="font-size:90%">Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann<br>
Rudolfstr. 4<br>
99092 Erfurt<br>
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Deutschland</span></p>
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<td>Tel.:</td>
<td>+49/361/2113417</td>
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<td>E-Post:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:christianw_lehmann@arcor.de">christianw_lehmann@arcor.de</a></td>
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<td>Web:</td>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.christianlehmann.eu">https://www.christianlehmann.eu</a></td>
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