OT: language origin and creationism

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:07 PM -0700 3/31/10, Dave Wilton wrote:
>Appearance in a refereed journal is one criterion on which to judge, but
>it's not the only one. An otherwise solid argument that appears on the web
>(or anywhere else) should not be discarded just because it isn't
>peer-reviewed. And conversely, peer-review is no guarantee of the
>correctness. Passing peer review just means that the article has no obvious
>flaws.
>
>This web site has a good list of criteria for evaluating sources:
>http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm. I'm sure
>there are other good lists elsewhere.
>
>In this case, the following are some objectively considered problems with
>the article:
>--The authors are writing outside their field of expertise (they are not
>linguists)
>--Previous works by the authors have not been about linguistics (mostly
>about the morality of homosexuality)
>--The publisher (Apologetics Press) has a vested interest in one side of the
>argument
>--The argument makes extensive use of unsupported arguments from authority
>(in this case biblical)
>--The writing style indicates bias (extensive use of exclamation points,
>among other things)
>
>These are just a few I pulled out from a quick skim of the article. I'm sure
>there's a lot more that can be said.
>
>I also did a Google search of the authors. While this has no bearing on the
>(lack of) validity of the article, I did find out that two years after this
>article was written one of the authors was fired by Apologetics Press for
>sexual misconduct with underage boys. Another example of Savage's Law that
>anyone who makes a religious argument against homosexuality is probably
>doing something worse.

And when they're not proving the obvious correctness of their a
priori claims about the universe (is "young earther" a recognized
label alongside "birther" and "truther"?) and the divine creation of
language, they're demonstrating (in the Apologetics Press) that the
Haitians had it coming, even if, as Prof. Miller notes, it's
"politically incorrect" to say so.  Luckily, Prof. Miller has proved
willing to carry on the noble "quarter-century battle against
atheism" and "the sinister doctrine of evolution", "undaunted by
Satan", after poor Prof. Thompson was forced to step down from the
executive directorship.  Interesting comment from one of the victims
about how he was asked to keep quiet about Prof. Thompson's actions
quiet on the grounds that "He didn't molest Methodists. He didn't
molest Baptists. He didn't molest atheists. And we intend to keep it
in the church."  Anyway, maybe he had it coming too, like the
Haitians.

LH

>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>Cohen, Gerald Leonard
>Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 3:35 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: OT: language origin and creationism
>
>
>But then on what grounds would the student justify the article as the "best
>source"?  If she wished to say, "Yes, all the  authorities in linguistics
>say such-and-such, but here is my evidence that they're wrong," that would
>be one thing. But unless she does in fact have a scholarly (vs. religious)
>reason to challenge the scholarly communis opinio, I don't see how she can
>say that the article she chose is the best source.
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
>
>________________________________
>
>American Dialect Society on behalf of Salikoko S. Mufwene, Wed 3/31/2010
>4:49 PM:
>
>
><snip>
>>
>SSM: Shame on you! This is an invalid argument of authority. It sounds
>like no sound argument can emerge from obscure sources (and from the
>underdogs in science) and as if authoritative publications have always
>been correct. I don't believe in creationism, but I would consider
>addressing the subject matter from down the pedestal. If authorities
>have always been correct, the books would have been closed on several
>issues today.
>>
>
><snip>
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