[Lingtyp] Reference for violence (hit, kill) in articles in linguistics needed

[Sebastian Nordhoff]

Dear all,
I have occasionally been part in discussions where the frequent use of 
violent concepts such as 'hit' or 'kill' in linguistics is mentioned and 
sometimes criticized.

I believe there is some research article providing empirical evidence 
for  linguistic articles being unnecessarily "violent", but I am unable 
to locate it. Could the list members help me?

Best wishes
Sebastian

PS: I am aware that 'hit' and 'kill' have a number of semantic 
properties which make them very suitable for a number of research questions.