Category Check

[Everett, Daniel]

Yes, of course it could be questioned. Linguists are extremely divided on this topic. It is influenced by a priori theoretical and other types of commitments.

You might also compare: Language: The Cultural Tool, Vintage Press (US) Profile Books (UK).

-- Dan
 
On Dec 17, 2012, at 9:53 AM, Paolo Ramat wrote:

> Martin's point of view could be questioned. As you may know, there are 
> linguists who have a different approach (see Ramat,  Linguistic categories 
> and linguists’ categorizations. “Linguistics” 37/1999: 157-80;   Once more 
> on linguistic categories. In:  J. Helmbrecht et al. (eds.), Form and 
> function in language research. Papers in honour of Christian Lehmann. Mouton 
> de Gruyter,  Berlin / New York, 2009: 151-156).
> 
> Anyhow, enjoy the Xmas holidays!
> 
> 
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Prof.Paolo Ramat
> Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS )
> Direttore del Centro "Lingue d'Europa: tipologia, storia e sociolinguistica" 
> (LETiSS)
> Palazzo del Broletto - Piazza della Vittoria
> 
> 27100 Pavia
> tel. ++390382375811
> fax ++390382375899
> 
> -----Messaggio originale----- 
> From: Everett, Daniel
> Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 3:07 PM
> To: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Re: LT: Category Check
> 
> Hear, hear, Martin.
> 
> On Dec 17, 2012, at 8:24 AM, Martin Haspelmath wrote:
> 
>> 
>> …
> 
>> But I think one should be careful to avoid the impression that the 
>> grammatical terms we use are anything other than convenient tools used by 
>> linguists. Categories of languages are language-specific entities, and 
>> they cannot be "polysemous" or "homonymous".
>> 
>> Greetings,
>> Martin
>> 
> 
> 
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