[Lingtyp] The (ab)use of the term "theory" in (generative) linguistics

[Haspelmath, Martin]

I would talk about "confusion", not about "abuse", because there are many different kinds of linguistic theories. Moreover, the term "theory" can be used as a count noun (as in the last sentence), or as a mass noun ("linguistic theory", "grammatical theory"). Linguists rarely reflect on kinds of theories, or on kinds of senses of the word "theory", and the papers that Hartmut mentioned have not become well-known. So there is a lot of confusion.

In my 2010 paper on "Framework-free grammatical theory" (https://zenodo.org/record/814947), I distinguished four senses of "theory".

But there is confusion also about the relation between "typology" and "theory": Quite a few people have contrasted them as if they were different ways of doing linguistics, or different parts of research, e.g.

Hengeveld, Kees. 1992. Non-verbal predication: Theory, typology, diachrony. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Polinsky, Maria & Robert Kluender. 2007. Linguistic typology and theory construction: Common challenges ahead. Linguistic Typology 11(1). 273–283.
Van Langendonck, Willy. 2008. Theory and typology of proper names. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

But on the other hand, it is clear that "atheoretical typology" is impossible, so this usage is confusing. See this recent blogpost, which proposes an alternative: https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1915

Martin


On 11.02.20 10:18, Hartmut Haberland wrote:
Jün-Tin Wang 1973. ”On the representation of generative grammars as first-order theories.” In: Radu J. Bogdan and Ilkka Niinilouto eds. Logic, Language and Probability. Dordrecht: Reidel, 302-316
Hans-Heinrich Lieb 1974. "Grammars as theories: The case for axiomatic grammar (Part I)". Theoretical Linguistics 1: 39-115.
Hans-Heinrich Lieb 1976. "Grammars as theories: The case for axiomatic grammar (Part II)". Theoretical Linguistics 3: 1-98.


Fra: Hartmut Haberland <hartmut at ruc.dk><mailto:hartmut at ruc.dk>
Sendt: 11. februar 2020 09:33
Til: TALLMAN Adam <Adam.TALLMAN at cnrs.fr><mailto:Adam.TALLMAN at cnrs.fr>
Emne: Re: [Lingtyp] The (ab)use of the term "theory" in (generative) linguistics

Hans-Heinrich Lieb has written extensively about this in the 70s, also Jün-tin Wang. Hartmut

Den 11. feb. 2020 kl. 07.12 skrev TALLMAN Adam <Adam.TALLMAN at cnrs.fr<mailto:Adam.TALLMAN at cnrs.fr>>:
Hello all,

Does anyone have any sources that discuss the abuse of the term "theory" in generative linguistics (or in linguistics generally)? I figure that a paper like this must exist given the deeply insightful comments that I have received by some reviewers.

best,

Adam





Adam James Ross Tallman (PhD, UT Austin)
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Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at shh.mpg.de<mailto:haspelmath at shh.mpg.de>)
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