Frameworks vs. theories

[Emily Bender]

It seems to me that we might actually want a three-way distinction
between framework, formalism, and theory:

Framework:  A set of leading ideas about how language works, or
	    alternatively, those ideas about language that we are
 	    currently pushing to their limits to see where they
	    break down.

Formalism:  At minimum, a notation for expressing theories within
	    a framework, usually shaped to some extent by the leading
	    ideas of the framework.

Theory:	    A set of specific hypotheses/claims about languages or
	    language in general, consistent with the leading ideas
	    and expressed in a formalism.

On this view, a theory can be right or wrong, a formalism can be
helpful or unhelpful as a tool (and also more or less rigorously
formal), and a framework can be insightful or misguided.   If the
formalisms are sufficiently general, theories from one framework
should be expressible in the formalism of another framework, even
if they are inconsistent with the leading ideas.  However, to the
extent that formalisms are shaped by leading ideas, theories from
one framework could look really awkward in other formalisms.

Emily