Essays on Linguistic Realism
Editors
This book contains new articles by leading philosophers and linguists discussing a promising philosophical framework distinct from currently dominant ones: Linguistic Realism. As opposed to Nominalism and Chomskyian Conceptualism, this approach distinguishes between use of language, knowledge of language, and language as such. The latter is conceived as part of the realm of abstract objects. The authors show how adopting Linguistic Realism overcomes entrenched problems with other frameworks and suggest that Linguistic Realism will best serve those interested in formal linguistics, the cognitive dimension of natural language, and linguistic philosophy. The essays offer different perspectives on Linguistic Realism, either supporting this paradigm or taking it as a starting point for developing modified conceptions of linguistics and for further tying linguistics to the kind of formal theories of sensory cognition that were pioneered in visual perception by David Marr—whose work is predicated on exactly the object/knowledge distinction made by Linguistic Realists.
[Studies in Language Companion Series, 196] 2018. xiii, 300 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 12 July 2018
Published online on 12 July 2018
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Introduction to Essays on Linguistic RealismChristina Behme and Martin Neef | pp. vii–xiv
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Chapter 1. The ontology of natural languagePaul M. Postal | pp. 1–6
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Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics?David Pitt | pp. 7–20
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Chapter 3. ‘Biolinguistics’: Some foundational problemsRobert Levine | pp. 21–60
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Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizingChristina Behme | pp. 61–78
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Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist wayHans-Heinrich Lieb | pp. 79–138
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Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structuresRyan M. Nefdt | pp. 139–184
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Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology: A realist approach to the phonology of GermanMartin Neef | pp. 185–202
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Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formationAndreas Nolda | pp. 203–234
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Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguisticsScott Soames | pp. 235–254
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Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of referenceD. Terence Langendoen | pp. 255–270
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Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure’s ‘realism’Armin Burkhardt
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Index Essays on Linguistic Realism | pp. 297–300
Cited by (5)
Cited by five other publications
Swiggers, Pierre
2023. Review of Aarssen, Genis & van der Veken (2018–2020). Historiographia Linguistica 50:2-3 ► pp. 353 ff.
Forker, Diana
Lieb, Hans-Heinrich
2021. Theories of language, language comparison, and grammatical description. In Linguistic Categories, Language Description and Linguistic Typology [Typological Studies in Language, 132], ► pp. 137 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 november 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Linguistics
Main BIC Subject
CFA: Philosophy of language
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General