20.2622, Books: Historical Linguistics/Linguistic Theories: Lass

[linguist at LINGUISTLIST.ORG]

LINGUIST List: Vol-20-2622. Tue Jul 28 2009. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 20.2622, Books: Historical Linguistics/Linguistic Theories: Lass

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
 
Reviews: Randall Eggert, U of Utah  
       <reviews at linguistlist.org> 

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, 
and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Maria Moreno-Rollins <maria at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

Links to the websites of all LINGUIST's supporting publishers
are available at the end of this issue. 

===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 18-Jul-2009
From: Daniel Davies < ddavies at cambridge.org >
Subject: On Explaining Language Change: Lass
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:23:10
From: Daniel Davies [ddavies at cambridge.org]
Subject: On Explaining Language Change: Lass

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=20-2622.html&submissionid=224330&topicid=2&msgnumber=1
  



Title: On Explaining Language Change 
Series Title: Cambridge Studies in Linguistics  

Publication Year: 2009 
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
	   http://us.cambridge.org
	
Author: Roger Lass

Hardback: ISBN:  9780521228367 Pages: 200 Price: U.K. £ 18.50
Paperback: ISBN:  9780521117166 Pages: 200 Price: U.K. £ 14.99


Abstract:

Note: This is a new edition of a previously published t

Roger Lass is concerned about the nature of argumentation within
linguistics and the status of its data and theoretical constructs. Through
an examination of standard strategies of explanation in historical
linguistics (particularly of phonological change), in the light of past
approaches to scientific epistemology, Dr Lass convincingly demonstrates
that attempts to model explanations of linguistic change on those of the
physical sciences are failures both in practice and in principle. Linguists
can neither assimilate their discipline crudely to the natural or the other
human sciences nor, at the other extreme, shelter behind the notion of a
private self-validating paradigm. Although Dr Lass outlines some tentative
paths towards an alternative epistemology, his main concern is that
linguists should confront the philosophical implications of their subject,
and he raises questions which both linguists and philosophers will need to
consider. 



Contents:

Preface; 
1. What does it mean to explain something?; 
2. Why 'naturalness' does not explain anything; 
Appendix to chapter 2. Naturalness, 'uniformitarianism' and reconstruction; 
3. The teleology problem: can language change be 'functional'?; 
Appendix to chapter 3. Four problems related to the question of function;
4. Causality and 'the nature of language'; 
5. Conclusion and prospects: the limits of deductivism and some alternatives; 
References; 
Index. 


Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                     Linguistic Theories


Written In: English  (eng)
	
See this book announcement on our website: 
http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=42582


MAJOR SUPPORTERS

	Brill          
		http://www.brill.nl	

	Cambridge Scholars Publishing          
		http://www.c-s-p.org	

	Cambridge University Press          
		http://us.cambridge.org	

	Cascadilla Press          
		http://www.cascadilla.com/	

	Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd          
		http://www.continuumbooks.com	

	Edinburgh University Press          
		http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/	

	Elsevier Ltd          
		http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics	

	Emerald Group Publishing Limited          
		http://www.emeraldinsight.com/	

	Equinox Publishing Ltd          
		http://www.equinoxpub.com/	

	European Language Resources Association - ELRA          
		http://www.elra.info.	

	Georgetown University Press          
		http://www.press.georgetown.edu	

	Hodder Education          
		http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk	

	John Benjamins          
		http://www.benjamins.com/	

	Lincom GmbH          
		http://www.lincom.eu	

	MIT Press          
		http://mitpress.mit.edu/	

	Mouton de Gruyter          
		http://www.mouton-publishers.com	

	Multilingual Matters          
		http://www.multilingual-matters.com/	

	Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG          
		http://www.narr.de/	

	Oxford University Press          
		http://www.oup.com/us	

	Peter Lang AG          
		http://www.peterlang.com	

	Rodopi          
		http://www.rodopi.nl/	

	Routledge (Taylor and Francis)          
		http://www.routledge.com/	

	Springer          
		http://www.springer.com	

	University of Toronto Press          
		http://www.utpjournals.com/	

	Wiley-Blackwell          
		http://www.wiley.com	

OTHER SUPPORTING PUBLISHERS	

	Association of Editors of the Journal of Portuguese Linguistics
		http://www.fl.ul.pt/revistas/JPL/JPLweb.htm 

	Graduate Linguistic Students' Association, Umass
		http://glsa.hypermart.net/ 

	International Pragmatics Assoc.
		http://www.ipra.be 

	Langues et Linguistique
		http://y.ennaji.free.fr/fr/ 

	Linguistic Association of Finland
		http://www.ling.helsinki.fi/sky/ 

	Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke - LOT
		http://www.lotpublications.nl/ 

	Pacific Linguistics
		http://pacling.anu.edu.au/ 

	SIL International
		http://www.ethnologue.com/bookstore.asp 

	St. Jerome Publishing Ltd
		http://www.stjerome.co.uk 

	Utrecht institute of Linguistics
		http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/ 
	



-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-20-2622