paradigms

[David Barner]

How about one or two examples just for the heck of it? If we don't agree
we'll be forced to read the papers to find out why!
Dave Barner

On 3/11/04 3:11 PM, "Daniel L. Everett" <dan.everett at MAN.AC.UK> wrote:

> Elizabeth,
>
> The reason it is too difficult to discuss on the listserv is that there
> are no facts without consensus and the establishment of facts as
> supporting this or that requires detailed discussion. It is, to use a
> Noam analogy, like trying to talk about anything meaningful on TV
> between commercials. Unless everyone agrees with you, your points take
> too much time to develop because they go against the grain. And this is
> not the list to discuss general morphology.
>
> But I did send you the draft I mentioned earlier. You can at least look
> at the facts if you have the time or inclination.
>
> A recent paper by Greg Stump and Farrell Ackerman (to appear in a
> volume edited by Louisa Sadler and Andrew Spencer) makes the point
> quite forcefully. But of course in many theories of morphology, the
> paradigm is causally implicated in many analyses.
>
> To say that a statement to the effect that "the correct theory won't
> use paradigms" is not metatheoretical is quite strange. A statement
> about facts is theoretical (one might say 'empirical' but I don't
> believe that that word does a lot of work). A statement about theories
> is metatheoretical.
>
> Saying that the 'correct theory' has no paradigms is somewhat
> reminiscent of  Paul Postal's 'The best theory' article, in which a
> particular approach of the early 70s was argued to be in principle the
> best. Best to watch your wallet and cover your beer with your other
> hand when that kind of talk starts.
>
> -- Dan
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> Daniel L. Everett
> Professor of Phonetics & Phonology
> Postgraduate Programme Director
> Department of Linguistics
> The University of Manchester
> Oxford Road
> Manchester, UK M13 9PL
> http://ling.man.ac.uk/info/staff/de
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