Chapter published in:
Columbia School Linguistics in the 21st Century
Edited by Nancy Stern, Ricardo Otheguy, Wallis Reid and Jaseleen Sackler
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 77] 2019
► pp. 103–101

The object of explanation for linguistics

Diver’s radical proposal for the foundations of linguistic theory

| Rutgers University
What is the ultimate object of explanation in linguistics? What are the pre-analytical observations, the observations against which all theoretical constructs are tested? Columbia School (CS) proposes a radical answer: the observations in linguistics, and hence its ultimate object of explanation, are the acoustic asymmetries of the speech continuum. This fact is responsible for the paradoxical status of meaning and communication in CS theory. CS theory takes the communicative function of language as key to the nature of linguistic structure, yet it does not offer a theory of communication. It analyzes linguistic structure as consisting of inventories of meaning-bearing signs; yet it does not offer a theory of meaning which maps utterances to interpretations. This paper articulates the reasons that CS linguistics declines to treat the interpretations of utterances as linguistic objects in need of explanation. It also provides a detailed description of how a CS grammatical analysis accounts for features of the acoustic asymmetries of a spoken English text, and provides an explanation for them.
Keywords: linguistic theory, linguistic categories, empirical base of linguistics, linguistic units, Columbia School
Keywords: teoría lingüística, categorías lingüísticas, fundamento empírico de la Lingüística, unidades lingüísticas
Published online: 02 October 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.77.03rei
References

References

Chomsky, Noam
(2012) The science of language: Interviews with James McGilvray. Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam, & Halle, Morris
(1968) The sound pattern of English. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Contini-Morava, Ellen
(1989) Discourse pragmatics and semantic categorization: The case of negation and tense-aspect with special reference to Swahili. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Davis, Joseph
(2006) Phonology without the Phoneme. In J. Davis, R. Gorup, & N. Stern (Eds.), Advances in Functional Linguistics: Columbia School beyond its origins (pp.163–176). Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2017) The substance and value of Italian si . Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Diver, William
(1969/2012) The System of Relevance of the Homeric verb. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.135–160). Leiden /Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
(1974/2012) Substance and value in linguistic analysis. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.23–46). Leiden /Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
(1975/2012) The nature of linguistic meaning. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.47–64). Leiden /Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
(1987/2012) The dual. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.87–99). Leiden /Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
(1992/2012) The subjunctive without syntax. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.183–194). Leiden /Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
(1995/2012) Latin voice and case. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.195–246). Leiden /Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
Diver, William, Joseph Davis, & Wallis Reid
(2012) Traditional grammar and its legacy in twentieth century linguistics. In A. Huffman, & J. Davis (Eds.), Language: Communication and human behavior. The linguistic essays of William Diver (pp.371–444). Leiden/Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
(1925/1994) The Great Gatsby. Scribner Paperback Fiction. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
García, Erica
(1975) The role of theory in linguistic analysis: The Spanish pronoun system. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
(2009) The motivated syntax of arbitrary signs: Cognitive constraints on Spanish clitic clustering. Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hauser, Marc D., Fitch, W. Tecumseh, & Chomsky, Noam
(2002) The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve. Science 298 (November 22 2002).Google Scholar
Huffman, Alan
(1997) The categories of grammar: French lui and le . Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2002) Cognitive and semiotic modes of explanation in functional grammar. In W. Reid, R. Otheguy, & N. Stern (Eds.), Signal, meaning, and message: Perspectives on sign-based linguistics (pp.311–338). Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Joos, Martin
(1957) Readings in linguistics: The development of descriptive linguistics in America, 1925-1956 (v. 1). University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Newmeyer, Frederick
(1999) Some remarks on the functionalist-formalist controversy in linguistics. In M. Darnell, E. Moravcsik, F. Newmeyer, M. Noonan, & K. Wheatley (Eds.), Functionalism and formalism in Linguistics, Volume 1: General papers (pp.469–486). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2003) Grammar is grammar and usage is usage. Language 79, 4. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Otheguy, Ricardo
(2002) Saussurean anti-nomenclaturism in grammatical analysis: A comparative theoretical perspective. In W. Reid, R. Otheguy, & N. Stern (Eds.), Signal, meaning, and message: Perspectives on sign-based linguistics (pp.373–404). Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Reid, Wallis
(1979)  The human factor in linguistic analysis: the passé simple and imparfait. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.Google Scholar
(1991) Verb and noun number in English: A functional explanation. London: Longman.Google Scholar
(2011) The communicative function of English verb number. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 29, 1087–1146. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2018) The justification of linguistic categories. In N. L. Shin, & D. Erker (Eds.), Questioning theoretical primitives in linguistic inquiry. Papers in honor of Ricardo Otheguy (pp.91–132). Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Sabar, N.
(2018)  Lexical meaning as a testable hypothesis: The case of English look, see, seem, and appear. Amsterdam /Philadelphia: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Saussure, Ferdinand
(1916/1972/1986) Cours de linguistique générale. Publié par Charles Bally et Albert Séchehaye. Avec la collaboration de Albert Riedlinger. Edition critique préparée par Tullio de Mauro. Paris: Edition Payot. Translated by Roy Harris as Course in general linguistics. La Salle, Illinois: Open Court Classics, 1972/1986.Google Scholar
Smiley, Jane
(1987) Long Distance. The Atlantic, January 1987.Google Scholar
Nancy, Stern
(2018) Ditransitives and the English System of Degree of Control: A Columbia School analysis. In N. L. Shin, & D. Erker (Eds.), Questioning theoretical primitives in linguistic inquiry. Papers in honor of Ricardo Otheguy (pp.157–188). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar