21018579 03 01 01 JB code JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 JB code SLCS 196 GE 15 9789027263940 06 10.1075/slcs.196 13 2018024926 00 EA E133 10 01 JB code SLCS 02 JB code 0165-7763 02 196.00 01 02 Studies in Language Companion Series Studies in Language Companion Series 01 01 Essays on Linguistic Realism Essays on Linguistic Realism 1 B01 01 JB code 439302206 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Kwantlen Polytechnic University 2 B01 01 JB code 288302207 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 01 eng 11 314 03 03 xiii 03 00 300 03 24 JB code LIN.THEOR Theoretical linguistics 10 LAN009000 12 CFA 01 06 02 00 This book contains new articles by leading philosophers and linguists discussing a promising philosophical framework distinct from currently dominant ones: Linguistic Realism. 03 00 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. 01 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/475/slcs.196.png 01 01 D502 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027200921.jpg 01 01 D504 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027200921.tif 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/slcs.196.hb.png 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/125/slcs.196.png 02 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/slcs.196.hb.png 03 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/slcs.196.hb.png 01 01 JB code slcs.196.001beh 06 10.1075/slcs.196.001beh vii xiv 8 Chapter 1 01 04 Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism 1 A01 01 JB code 85335423 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Mount Saint Vincent University 2 A01 01 JB code 264335424 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 01 01 JB code slcs.196.01pos 06 10.1075/slcs.196.01pos 1 6 6 Chapter 2 01 04 Chapter 1. The ontology of natural language Chapter 1. The ontology of natural language 1 A01 01 JB code 362335425 Paul M. Postal Postal, Paul M. Paul M. Postal New York University 01 01 JB code slcs.196.02pit 06 10.1075/slcs.196.02pit 7 20 14 Chapter 3 01 04 Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics? Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics? 1 A01 01 JB code 238335426 David Pitt Pitt, David David Pitt California State University, Los Angeles 01 01 JB code slcs.196.03lev 06 10.1075/slcs.196.03lev 21 60 40 Chapter 4 01 04 Chapter 3. `Biolinguistics' Chapter 3. ‘Biolinguistics’ 01 04 Some foundational problems Some foundational problems 1 A01 01 JB code 57335427 Robert Levine Levine, Robert Robert Levine Ohio State University 01 01 JB code slcs.196.04beh 06 10.1075/slcs.196.04beh 61 78 18 Chapter 5 01 04 Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing 1 A01 01 JB code 85335428 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Mount Saint Vincent University 01 01 JB code slcs.196.05lie 06 10.1075/slcs.196.05lie 79 138 60 Chapter 6 01 04 Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way 1 A01 01 JB code 810335429 Hans-Heinrich Lieb Lieb, Hans-Heinrich Hans-Heinrich Lieb Freie Universität Berlin 01 01 JB code slcs.196.06nef 06 10.1075/slcs.196.06nef 139 184 46 Chapter 7 01 04 Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures 1 A01 01 JB code 878335430 Ryan M. Nefdt Nefdt, Ryan M. Ryan M. Nefdt University of Cape Town 01 01 JB code slcs.196.07nee 06 10.1075/slcs.196.07nee 185 202 18 Chapter 8 01 04 Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology 01 04 A realist approach to the phonology of German A realist approach to the phonology of German 1 A01 01 JB code 680335431 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 01 01 JB code slcs.196.08nol 06 10.1075/slcs.196.08nol 203 234 32 Chapter 9 01 04 Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation 1 A01 01 JB code 705335432 Andreas Nolda Nolda, Andreas Andreas Nolda University of Szeged 01 01 JB code slcs.196.09soa 06 10.1075/slcs.196.09soa 235 254 20 Chapter 10 01 04 Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics 1 A01 01 JB code 547335433 Scott Soames Soames, Scott Scott Soames University of Southern California 01 01 JB code slcs.196.10lan 06 10.1075/slcs.196.10lan 255 270 16 Chapter 11 01 04 Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference 1 A01 01 JB code 544335434 D. Terence Langendoen Langendoen, D. Terence D. Terence Langendoen University of Arizona 01 01 JB code slcs.196.11bur 06 10.1075/slcs.196.11bur 271 296 26 Chapter 12 01 04 Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure's `realism' Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure’s ‘realism’ 1 A01 01 JB code 984320517 Armin Burkhardt Burkhardt, Armin Armin Burkhardt University of Magdeburg 01 01 JB code slcs.196.index 06 10.1075/slcs.196.index 297 297 1 Miscellaneous 13 01 04 Index Index 01 JB code JBENJAMINS John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 01 JB code JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 https://benjamins.com Amsterdam NL 00 John Benjamins Publishing Company Marketing Department / Karin Plijnaar, Pieter Lamers onix@benjamins.nl 04 01 00 20180726 C 2018 John Benjamins D 2018 John Benjamins 02 WORLD 13 15 9789027200921 WORLD 03 01 JB 17 Google 03 https://play.google.com/store/books 21 01 00 Unqualified price 00 99.00 EUR 01 00 Unqualified price 00 83.00 GBP 01 00 Unqualified price 00 149.00 USD 117018314 03 01 01 JB code JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 JB code SLCS 196 Eb 15 9789027263940 06 10.1075/slcs.196 13 2018024926 00 EA E107 10 01 JB code SLCS 02 0165-7763 02 196.00 01 02 Studies in Language Companion Series Studies in Language Companion Series 11 01 JB code jbe-all 01 02 Full EBA collection (ca. 4,200 titles) 11 01 JB code jbe-eba-2023 01 02 Compact EBA Collection 2023 (ca. 700 titles, starting 2018) 11 01 JB code jbe-2018 01 02 2018 collection (152 titles) 05 02 2018 collection 01 01 Essays on Linguistic Realism Essays on Linguistic Realism 1 B01 01 JB code 439302206 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Kwantlen Polytechnic University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/439302206 2 B01 01 JB code 288302207 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/288302207 01 eng 11 314 03 03 xiii 03 00 300 03 01 23 401 03 2018 P107 04 Language and languages--Philosophy. 10 LAN009000 12 CFA 24 JB code LIN.THEOR Theoretical linguistics 01 06 02 00 This book contains new articles by leading philosophers and linguists discussing a promising philosophical framework distinct from currently dominant ones: Linguistic Realism. 03 00 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. 01 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/475/slcs.196.png 01 01 D502 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027200921.jpg 01 01 D504 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027200921.tif 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/slcs.196.hb.png 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/125/slcs.196.png 02 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/slcs.196.hb.png 03 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/slcs.196.hb.png 01 01 JB code slcs.196.001beh 06 10.1075/slcs.196.001beh vii xiv 8 Chapter 1 01 04 Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism 1 A01 01 JB code 85335423 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Mount Saint Vincent University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/85335423 2 A01 01 JB code 264335424 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/264335424 01 eng 01 01 JB code slcs.196.01pos 06 10.1075/slcs.196.01pos 1 6 6 Chapter 2 01 04 Chapter 1. The ontology of natural language Chapter 1. The ontology of natural language 1 A01 01 JB code 362335425 Paul M. Postal Postal, Paul M. Paul M. Postal New York University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/362335425 01 eng 30 00

This chapter discusses natural language ontology, focusing on the nature of sentences. Two contrasting views about such elements are considered. First, the naturalistic view takes sentences to be elements of the physical world. There are two variants. One, which regards sentences as utterances, has few if any current advocates. The other, which views sentences as mental/biological things, is currently dominant, defining the position of Noam Chomsky. Second, there is the nonnaturalistic, Platonist view advocated intensively by Jerrold J. Katz, which takes sentences to be abstract objects. This view is consistent with the fact that sentences are timeless, locationless entities entering into no causal relations. Only the naturalistic view is inconsistent with actual linguistics, where sentences are uniformly treated in set-theoretical terms.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.02pit 06 10.1075/slcs.196.02pit 7 20 14 Chapter 3 01 04 Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics? Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics? 1 A01 01 JB code 238335426 David Pitt Pitt, David David Pitt California State University, Los Angeles 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/238335426 01 eng 30 00

I argue that what determines whether a science is ‘formal’ or ‘empirical’ is not the ontological status of its objects of study, but, rather, its methodology. Since all sciences aim at generalizations, and generalizations concern types, if types are abstract (non-spatiotemporal) objects, then all sciences are concerned to discover the nature of certain abstract objects. What distinguishes empirical from formal sciences is how they study such things. If the types of a science have observable instances (‘tokens’), then the nature of the types may be determined empirically. If they types have either abstract tokens, or no tokens at all, their nature must be determined by non-empirical methods involving intuition, reasoning and proof. I conclude that the status of (theoretical) linguistics depends on the methodologies of syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology and orthography (and any other subdiscipline that is concerned with the study of the structure of language).

01 01 JB code slcs.196.03lev 06 10.1075/slcs.196.03lev 21 60 40 Chapter 4 01 04 Chapter 3. `Biolinguistics' Chapter 3. ‘Biolinguistics’ 01 04 Some foundational problems Some foundational problems 1 A01 01 JB code 57335427 Robert Levine Levine, Robert Robert Levine Ohio State University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/57335427 01 eng 30 00

The ‘Biolinguistics’ program seeks to establish specific neuroanatomical models corresponding to the representations and operations characterizing the species-specific language faculty in human beings. Yet after decades of research, no neural structures corresponding to specific linguistic structures, rules, constraints or principles have ever been identified. A key to biolinguistics’ failure is, I suggest, its long-term adherence to two dubious assumptions: (i) a kind of literalism in envisaging the relationship between neural anatomy and linguistic representations, reflecting a seriously misconstrual of Marr’s (1982) tripartite division of cognition, and (ii) a view of such representations as objects fundamentally different from other components of human cognitive capacity. (ii) rests on the premise that phrase markers are the optimal formal representation of natural language sentences, despite major empirical difficulties that syntactic accounts based hierarchical phrase structure face in handling a wide variety of grammatical patterns, including non-canonical coordinations and ellipsis constructions. In contrast, proof-theoretic approaches such as type-logical grammar do not face these difficulties, and their foundational assumptions link language to the higher-order cognitive functions supporting deductive reasoning. This conclusion suggests a promising alternative to the current, essentially result-free ‘Biolinguistic’ paradigm.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.04beh 06 10.1075/slcs.196.04beh 61 78 18 Chapter 5 01 04 Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing 1 A01 01 JB code 85335428 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Mount Saint Vincent University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/85335428 01 eng 30 00

It may appear counterintuitive to suggest a connection between language evolution and linguistic realism. Only biological objects evolve but linguistic realism holds that natural languages are abstract objects. However, given the fact that currently no approach to language evolution can account satisfactorily for all aspects of language, I suggest that reconsidering the ontological status of natural languages might lead to novel approaches to language evolution puzzles. Most contemporary work on language evolution assumes without argument that natural languages are either biological entities or produced by biological organs (human brains), and focuses on brain evolution, language acquisition, and communication systems of other primates. Yet, so far such approaches have been unable to account for some aspects of grammar. Furthermore, to date little is known about the bio-physiological implementation of natural languages. I suggest that the debate could profit from paying closer attention to the ontological status of language and the exact relationship between language and biology. Finally, I discuss the kinds of evidence used in linguistic research and demonstrate that, contra to widespread belief, the linguistic Platonist is neither relying on inferior evidence nor ruling out evidence that is clearly relevant to linguistic research.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.05lie 06 10.1075/slcs.196.05lie 79 138 60 Chapter 6 01 04 Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way 1 A01 01 JB code 810335429 Hans-Heinrich Lieb Lieb, Hans-Heinrich Hans-Heinrich Lieb Freie Universität Berlin 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/810335429 01 eng 30 00

The essay is divided into four Parts A to D: Part A (Sections 1 to 3), Topic and background; B. Grammatical description (Sections 4 to 6); C. Grammars and theories of language: motivating axiomatization (Sections 7 to 9); and D. Grammars as axiomatic theories (Sections 10 and 11). The essay characterizes grammatical description, both informal and formal, from a realist point of view as the description of abstract objects, not to be confused with the concrete data to which the description must be ultimately related. The importance of theories of natural human languages for grammars is emphasized, also in view of comparative grammar writing, and is demonstrated by the detailed analysis of a grammatical statement taken from an informal grammar. There is a discussion of adequacy problems that arise in current frameworks for formal grammars due to an absence of theories of language from such frameworks. A format for axiomatic grammars is outlined by which an axiomatic grammar ‘presupposes’ a theory of language, in a technical sense. The view of grammars is non-reductionist; concepts of theory integration are characterized that allow us to integrate grammars with linguistic and non-linguistic theories. The conception of linguistics itself is non-reductionist, too, through applying a concept of inter-discipline that relates linguistics to other disciplines.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.06nef 06 10.1075/slcs.196.06nef 139 184 46 Chapter 7 01 04 Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures 1 A01 01 JB code 878335430 Ryan M. Nefdt Nefdt, Ryan M. Ryan M. Nefdt University of Cape Town 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/878335430 01 eng 30 00

My aim in this chapter is to extend the Realist account of the foundations of linguistics offered by Postal, Katz and others. I first argue against the idea that naive Platonism can capture the necessary requirements on what I call a ‘mixed realist’ view of linguistics, which takes aspects of Platonism, Nominalism and Mentalism into consideration. I then advocate three desiderata for an appropriate ‘mixed realist’ account of linguistic ontology and foundations, namely (1) linguistic creativity and infinity, (2) linguistics as a theory of types (and not tokens) and (3) independence but structural respect between language and the linguistic competence thereof. My own brand of mixed realism, what I call ante rem realism, is defended along the lines of an ante rem or non-eliminative structuralism, the likes of which has been offered for mathematics by Resnik (1997) and Shapiro (1997). In other words, grammars describe a mind-independent (but not necessarily unconnected) linguistic reality in terms of linguistic patterns or structures also known as natural languages. I further amend this picture to allow for the possibility of a naturalistic account of language acquisition and evolution by arguing against a particular view of the type-token distinction.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.07nee 06 10.1075/slcs.196.07nee 185 202 18 Chapter 8 01 04 Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology 01 04 A realist approach to the phonology of German A realist approach to the phonology of German 1 A01 01 JB code 680335431 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/680335431 01 eng 30 00

In the paradigm of Linguistic Realism, phonology deals with abstract objects. Consequently, phonological units cannot be derived from phonetics as the material side of speech production and reception. I suggest a theoretical approach that conceives of phonology as autonomous from phonetics; hence Autonomous Declarative Phonology. The central questions of this kind of phonology are: What are the phonological elements of a specific language system (in particular: German)? How can these phonological elements be combined in the language under analysis? I give a definition of what phonology is and show how individual phonological units can be motivated. In order to give a model-theoretic reconstruction of phonological sequences, I make reference to the concept of syllable, employing and re-interpreting ideas from generative phonology and other approaches such as hierarchical syllable structure, CV-phonology, and sonority.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.08nol 06 10.1075/slcs.196.08nol 203 234 32 Chapter 9 01 04 Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation 1 A01 01 JB code 705335432 Andreas Nolda Nolda, Andreas Andreas Nolda University of Szeged 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/705335432 01 eng 30 00

The present paper examines foundational issues of a realist word-formation theory. A realist linguistic theory, as it is understood here, takes linguistic units and the linguistic systems that determine them to be abstract entities. With respect to such a word-formation theory, the following two questions are discussed:

  • What are the word-formation facts to be described and explained or predicted?

  • What linguistic objects are those word-formation facts about?

Presupposing the axiomatically formalized Pattern-and-Restriction Theory (PR), it is proposed that the word-formation facts to be described and explained or predicted are true statements of word-formation relations in the linguistic system under consideration, and that those facts are about abstract lexical units in the sense of the realist framework of Integrational Linguistics (IL). On the example of a word-formation pattern in some spoken Modern German system it is shown how deductive-nomological (DN) explanations or predictions of word-formation facts can be logically derived from theorems of the PR theory and theorems of a grammar and a dictionary of the linguistic system.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.09soa 06 10.1075/slcs.196.09soa 235 254 20 Chapter 10 01 04 Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics 1 A01 01 JB code 547335433 Scott Soames Soames, Scott Scott Soames University of Southern California 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/547335433 01 eng 30 00

The paper presents a cognitive conception of propositions as semantic contents of (some) declarative sentences. The conception expands solution spaces for previously intractable empirical problems in natural-language semantics and pragmatics, while also explaining how an agent who is unable to cognize propositions can know or believe them, and how sophisticated agents acquire the concept and believe things about them by monitoring their own cognitions. Finally, an account is given of what it is for a sentence to mean that p in a language that doesn’t require having thoughts about p or L. Nevertheless, semantics isn’t psychology; agents with different psychologies can speak semantically identical languages, while those with the same purely internal states (embedded in similar immediate environments) can speak different languages. Cognitive semantics can be realist and naturalistic without being a branch of psychology.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.10lan 06 10.1075/slcs.196.10lan 255 270 16 Chapter 11 01 04 Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference 1 A01 01 JB code 544335434 D. Terence Langendoen Langendoen, D. Terence D. Terence Langendoen University of Arizona 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/544335434 01 eng 30 00

Section 1 is an extended commentary on Edward Sapir’s formulation nearly a century ago of what he considered the two most fundamental properties of human language, first that each one is a formally complete system of reference to experience and second that each one is formally distinct from every other. Section 2 considers some aspects of the development of these formulations, noting that they have been considered separately and not integrated as fully fleshed out systems of reference, as Sapir envisioned. Section 3 examines more closely what such an integration looks like in a case involving simple arithmetic. Section 4 begins with a brief review of the accomplishments of Greco-Roman logic and more recent developments in the theory of logic, leading to a consideration of what may be needed to fulfill Sapir’s program. Section 5 summarizes some of my own recent research on extending first-order logic by replacing the unordered set of individuals with a specific ordering of a set of sets of individuals that is isomorphic to an ordering of sets of sets of numbers that contain no pairs of divisible numbers, which was investigated by Richard Dedekind shortly before the turn of the twentieth century.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.11bur 06 10.1075/slcs.196.11bur 271 296 26 Chapter 12 01 04 Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure's `realism' Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure’s ‘realism’ 1 A01 01 JB code 984320517 Armin Burkhardt Burkhardt, Armin Armin Burkhardt University of Magdeburg 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/984320517 30 00

Undoubtedly, F. de Saussure is among the founders of modern linguistics and ‘semiology’/semiotics – though, strangely enough, his success mainly resulted from a book he did not write in the strict sense. Since the publication of the Cours, edited by his disciples in 1916, his notion of ‘arbitrariness’ has become one of the main canonical catchwords of linguistics that are hardly ever called into question. After a reconstruction of the Saussurean concept of the linguistic sign and its arbitrariness the attempt is made to work out its shortcomings and partly correct them. It is argued that instead of arbitrariness motivation must be taken as the central semiotic feature of linguistic signs which, after their formation, may be subject to a continuous historical process of increasing arbitrarization, possibly leading to complete arbitrariness in the end. In the final section the question of whether and to what extent the Geneva linguist may be considered a realist is tackled.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.index 06 10.1075/slcs.196.index 297 297 1 Miscellaneous 13 01 04 Index Essays on Linguistic Realism Index Essays on Linguistic Realism 01 eng 01 01 JB code slcs.196.c11bur 06 10.1075/slcs.196.c11bur 271 296 26 Chapter 14 01 04 Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure's `realism' Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure’s ‘realism’ 01 eng 30 00

Undoubtedly, F. de Saussure is among the founders of modern linguistics and ‘semiology’/semiotics – though, strangely enough, his success mainly resulted from a book he did not write in the strict sense. Since the publication of the Cours, edited by his disciples in 1916, his notion of ‘arbitrariness’ has become one of the main canonical catchwords of linguistics that are hardly ever called into question. After a reconstruction of the Saussurean concept of the linguistic sign and its arbitrariness the attempt is made to work out its shortcomings and partly correct them. It is argued that instead of arbitrariness motivation must be taken as the central semiotic feature of linguistic signs which, after their formation, may be subject to a continuous historical process of increasing arbitrarization, possibly leading to complete arbitrariness in the end. In the final section the question of whether and to what extent the Geneva linguist may be considered a realist is tackled.

01 JB code JBENJAMINS John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 01 JB code JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 https://benjamins.com 02 https://benjamins.com/catalog/slcs.196 Amsterdam NL 00 John Benjamins Publishing Company Marketing Department / Karin Plijnaar, Pieter Lamers onix@benjamins.nl 04 01 00 20180726 C 2018 John Benjamins D 2018 John Benjamins 02 WORLD 13 15 9789027200921 WORLD 09 01 JB 3 John Benjamins e-Platform 03 https://jbe-platform.com 29 https://jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027263940 21 01 00 Unqualified price 02 99.00 EUR 01 00 Unqualified price 02 83.00 GBP GB 01 00 Unqualified price 02 149.00 USD
201018313 03 01 01 JB code JB John Benjamins Publishing Company 01 JB code SLCS 196 Hb 15 9789027200921 06 10.1075/slcs.196 13 2018009335 00 BB 08 710 gr 10 01 JB code SLCS 02 0165-7763 02 196.00 01 02 Studies in Language Companion Series Studies in Language Companion Series 01 01 Essays on Linguistic Realism Essays on Linguistic Realism 1 B01 01 JB code 439302206 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Kwantlen Polytechnic University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/439302206 2 B01 01 JB code 288302207 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/288302207 01 eng 11 314 03 03 xiii 03 00 300 03 01 23 401 03 2018 P107 04 Language and languages--Philosophy. 10 LAN009000 12 CFA 24 JB code LIN.THEOR Theoretical linguistics 01 06 02 00 This book contains new articles by leading philosophers and linguists discussing a promising philosophical framework distinct from currently dominant ones: Linguistic Realism. 03 00 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. 01 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/475/slcs.196.png 01 01 D502 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027200921.jpg 01 01 D504 https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027200921.tif 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/slcs.196.hb.png 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/125/slcs.196.png 02 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/slcs.196.hb.png 03 00 03 01 01 D503 https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/slcs.196.hb.png 01 01 JB code slcs.196.001beh 06 10.1075/slcs.196.001beh vii xiv 8 Chapter 1 01 04 Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism 1 A01 01 JB code 85335423 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Mount Saint Vincent University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/85335423 2 A01 01 JB code 264335424 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/264335424 01 eng 01 01 JB code slcs.196.01pos 06 10.1075/slcs.196.01pos 1 6 6 Chapter 2 01 04 Chapter 1. The ontology of natural language Chapter 1. The ontology of natural language 1 A01 01 JB code 362335425 Paul M. Postal Postal, Paul M. Paul M. Postal New York University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/362335425 01 eng 30 00

This chapter discusses natural language ontology, focusing on the nature of sentences. Two contrasting views about such elements are considered. First, the naturalistic view takes sentences to be elements of the physical world. There are two variants. One, which regards sentences as utterances, has few if any current advocates. The other, which views sentences as mental/biological things, is currently dominant, defining the position of Noam Chomsky. Second, there is the nonnaturalistic, Platonist view advocated intensively by Jerrold J. Katz, which takes sentences to be abstract objects. This view is consistent with the fact that sentences are timeless, locationless entities entering into no causal relations. Only the naturalistic view is inconsistent with actual linguistics, where sentences are uniformly treated in set-theoretical terms.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.02pit 06 10.1075/slcs.196.02pit 7 20 14 Chapter 3 01 04 Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics? Chapter 2. What kind of science is linguistics? 1 A01 01 JB code 238335426 David Pitt Pitt, David David Pitt California State University, Los Angeles 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/238335426 01 eng 30 00

I argue that what determines whether a science is ‘formal’ or ‘empirical’ is not the ontological status of its objects of study, but, rather, its methodology. Since all sciences aim at generalizations, and generalizations concern types, if types are abstract (non-spatiotemporal) objects, then all sciences are concerned to discover the nature of certain abstract objects. What distinguishes empirical from formal sciences is how they study such things. If the types of a science have observable instances (‘tokens’), then the nature of the types may be determined empirically. If they types have either abstract tokens, or no tokens at all, their nature must be determined by non-empirical methods involving intuition, reasoning and proof. I conclude that the status of (theoretical) linguistics depends on the methodologies of syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology and orthography (and any other subdiscipline that is concerned with the study of the structure of language).

01 01 JB code slcs.196.03lev 06 10.1075/slcs.196.03lev 21 60 40 Chapter 4 01 04 Chapter 3. `Biolinguistics' Chapter 3. ‘Biolinguistics’ 01 04 Some foundational problems Some foundational problems 1 A01 01 JB code 57335427 Robert Levine Levine, Robert Robert Levine Ohio State University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/57335427 01 eng 30 00

The ‘Biolinguistics’ program seeks to establish specific neuroanatomical models corresponding to the representations and operations characterizing the species-specific language faculty in human beings. Yet after decades of research, no neural structures corresponding to specific linguistic structures, rules, constraints or principles have ever been identified. A key to biolinguistics’ failure is, I suggest, its long-term adherence to two dubious assumptions: (i) a kind of literalism in envisaging the relationship between neural anatomy and linguistic representations, reflecting a seriously misconstrual of Marr’s (1982) tripartite division of cognition, and (ii) a view of such representations as objects fundamentally different from other components of human cognitive capacity. (ii) rests on the premise that phrase markers are the optimal formal representation of natural language sentences, despite major empirical difficulties that syntactic accounts based hierarchical phrase structure face in handling a wide variety of grammatical patterns, including non-canonical coordinations and ellipsis constructions. In contrast, proof-theoretic approaches such as type-logical grammar do not face these difficulties, and their foundational assumptions link language to the higher-order cognitive functions supporting deductive reasoning. This conclusion suggests a promising alternative to the current, essentially result-free ‘Biolinguistic’ paradigm.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.04beh 06 10.1075/slcs.196.04beh 61 78 18 Chapter 5 01 04 Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing Chapter 4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing 1 A01 01 JB code 85335428 Christina Behme Behme, Christina Christina Behme Mount Saint Vincent University 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/85335428 01 eng 30 00

It may appear counterintuitive to suggest a connection between language evolution and linguistic realism. Only biological objects evolve but linguistic realism holds that natural languages are abstract objects. However, given the fact that currently no approach to language evolution can account satisfactorily for all aspects of language, I suggest that reconsidering the ontological status of natural languages might lead to novel approaches to language evolution puzzles. Most contemporary work on language evolution assumes without argument that natural languages are either biological entities or produced by biological organs (human brains), and focuses on brain evolution, language acquisition, and communication systems of other primates. Yet, so far such approaches have been unable to account for some aspects of grammar. Furthermore, to date little is known about the bio-physiological implementation of natural languages. I suggest that the debate could profit from paying closer attention to the ontological status of language and the exact relationship between language and biology. Finally, I discuss the kinds of evidence used in linguistic research and demonstrate that, contra to widespread belief, the linguistic Platonist is neither relying on inferior evidence nor ruling out evidence that is clearly relevant to linguistic research.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.05lie 06 10.1075/slcs.196.05lie 79 138 60 Chapter 6 01 04 Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way Chapter 5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way 1 A01 01 JB code 810335429 Hans-Heinrich Lieb Lieb, Hans-Heinrich Hans-Heinrich Lieb Freie Universität Berlin 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/810335429 01 eng 30 00

The essay is divided into four Parts A to D: Part A (Sections 1 to 3), Topic and background; B. Grammatical description (Sections 4 to 6); C. Grammars and theories of language: motivating axiomatization (Sections 7 to 9); and D. Grammars as axiomatic theories (Sections 10 and 11). The essay characterizes grammatical description, both informal and formal, from a realist point of view as the description of abstract objects, not to be confused with the concrete data to which the description must be ultimately related. The importance of theories of natural human languages for grammars is emphasized, also in view of comparative grammar writing, and is demonstrated by the detailed analysis of a grammatical statement taken from an informal grammar. There is a discussion of adequacy problems that arise in current frameworks for formal grammars due to an absence of theories of language from such frameworks. A format for axiomatic grammars is outlined by which an axiomatic grammar ‘presupposes’ a theory of language, in a technical sense. The view of grammars is non-reductionist; concepts of theory integration are characterized that allow us to integrate grammars with linguistic and non-linguistic theories. The conception of linguistics itself is non-reductionist, too, through applying a concept of inter-discipline that relates linguistics to other disciplines.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.06nef 06 10.1075/slcs.196.06nef 139 184 46 Chapter 7 01 04 Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures Chapter 6. Languages and other abstract structures 1 A01 01 JB code 878335430 Ryan M. Nefdt Nefdt, Ryan M. Ryan M. Nefdt University of Cape Town 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/878335430 01 eng 30 00

My aim in this chapter is to extend the Realist account of the foundations of linguistics offered by Postal, Katz and others. I first argue against the idea that naive Platonism can capture the necessary requirements on what I call a ‘mixed realist’ view of linguistics, which takes aspects of Platonism, Nominalism and Mentalism into consideration. I then advocate three desiderata for an appropriate ‘mixed realist’ account of linguistic ontology and foundations, namely (1) linguistic creativity and infinity, (2) linguistics as a theory of types (and not tokens) and (3) independence but structural respect between language and the linguistic competence thereof. My own brand of mixed realism, what I call ante rem realism, is defended along the lines of an ante rem or non-eliminative structuralism, the likes of which has been offered for mathematics by Resnik (1997) and Shapiro (1997). In other words, grammars describe a mind-independent (but not necessarily unconnected) linguistic reality in terms of linguistic patterns or structures also known as natural languages. I further amend this picture to allow for the possibility of a naturalistic account of language acquisition and evolution by arguing against a particular view of the type-token distinction.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.07nee 06 10.1075/slcs.196.07nee 185 202 18 Chapter 8 01 04 Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology Chapter 7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology 01 04 A realist approach to the phonology of German A realist approach to the phonology of German 1 A01 01 JB code 680335431 Martin Neef Neef, Martin Martin Neef TU Braunschweig 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/680335431 01 eng 30 00

In the paradigm of Linguistic Realism, phonology deals with abstract objects. Consequently, phonological units cannot be derived from phonetics as the material side of speech production and reception. I suggest a theoretical approach that conceives of phonology as autonomous from phonetics; hence Autonomous Declarative Phonology. The central questions of this kind of phonology are: What are the phonological elements of a specific language system (in particular: German)? How can these phonological elements be combined in the language under analysis? I give a definition of what phonology is and show how individual phonological units can be motivated. In order to give a model-theoretic reconstruction of phonological sequences, I make reference to the concept of syllable, employing and re-interpreting ideas from generative phonology and other approaches such as hierarchical syllable structure, CV-phonology, and sonority.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.08nol 06 10.1075/slcs.196.08nol 203 234 32 Chapter 9 01 04 Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation Chapter 8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation 1 A01 01 JB code 705335432 Andreas Nolda Nolda, Andreas Andreas Nolda University of Szeged 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/705335432 01 eng 30 00

The present paper examines foundational issues of a realist word-formation theory. A realist linguistic theory, as it is understood here, takes linguistic units and the linguistic systems that determine them to be abstract entities. With respect to such a word-formation theory, the following two questions are discussed:

  • What are the word-formation facts to be described and explained or predicted?

  • What linguistic objects are those word-formation facts about?

Presupposing the axiomatically formalized Pattern-and-Restriction Theory (PR), it is proposed that the word-formation facts to be described and explained or predicted are true statements of word-formation relations in the linguistic system under consideration, and that those facts are about abstract lexical units in the sense of the realist framework of Integrational Linguistics (IL). On the example of a word-formation pattern in some spoken Modern German system it is shown how deductive-nomological (DN) explanations or predictions of word-formation facts can be logically derived from theorems of the PR theory and theorems of a grammar and a dictionary of the linguistic system.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.09soa 06 10.1075/slcs.196.09soa 235 254 20 Chapter 10 01 04 Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics Chapter 9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics 1 A01 01 JB code 547335433 Scott Soames Soames, Scott Scott Soames University of Southern California 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/547335433 01 eng 30 00

The paper presents a cognitive conception of propositions as semantic contents of (some) declarative sentences. The conception expands solution spaces for previously intractable empirical problems in natural-language semantics and pragmatics, while also explaining how an agent who is unable to cognize propositions can know or believe them, and how sophisticated agents acquire the concept and believe things about them by monitoring their own cognitions. Finally, an account is given of what it is for a sentence to mean that p in a language that doesn’t require having thoughts about p or L. Nevertheless, semantics isn’t psychology; agents with different psychologies can speak semantically identical languages, while those with the same purely internal states (embedded in similar immediate environments) can speak different languages. Cognitive semantics can be realist and naturalistic without being a branch of psychology.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.10lan 06 10.1075/slcs.196.10lan 255 270 16 Chapter 11 01 04 Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference Chapter 10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference 1 A01 01 JB code 544335434 D. Terence Langendoen Langendoen, D. Terence D. Terence Langendoen University of Arizona 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/544335434 01 eng 30 00

Section 1 is an extended commentary on Edward Sapir’s formulation nearly a century ago of what he considered the two most fundamental properties of human language, first that each one is a formally complete system of reference to experience and second that each one is formally distinct from every other. Section 2 considers some aspects of the development of these formulations, noting that they have been considered separately and not integrated as fully fleshed out systems of reference, as Sapir envisioned. Section 3 examines more closely what such an integration looks like in a case involving simple arithmetic. Section 4 begins with a brief review of the accomplishments of Greco-Roman logic and more recent developments in the theory of logic, leading to a consideration of what may be needed to fulfill Sapir’s program. Section 5 summarizes some of my own recent research on extending first-order logic by replacing the unordered set of individuals with a specific ordering of a set of sets of individuals that is isomorphic to an ordering of sets of sets of numbers that contain no pairs of divisible numbers, which was investigated by Richard Dedekind shortly before the turn of the twentieth century.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.11bur 06 10.1075/slcs.196.11bur 271 296 26 Chapter 12 01 04 Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure's `realism' Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure’s ‘realism’ 1 A01 01 JB code 984320517 Armin Burkhardt Burkhardt, Armin Armin Burkhardt University of Magdeburg 07 https://benjamins.com/catalog/persons/984320517 30 00

Undoubtedly, F. de Saussure is among the founders of modern linguistics and ‘semiology’/semiotics – though, strangely enough, his success mainly resulted from a book he did not write in the strict sense. Since the publication of the Cours, edited by his disciples in 1916, his notion of ‘arbitrariness’ has become one of the main canonical catchwords of linguistics that are hardly ever called into question. After a reconstruction of the Saussurean concept of the linguistic sign and its arbitrariness the attempt is made to work out its shortcomings and partly correct them. It is argued that instead of arbitrariness motivation must be taken as the central semiotic feature of linguistic signs which, after their formation, may be subject to a continuous historical process of increasing arbitrarization, possibly leading to complete arbitrariness in the end. In the final section the question of whether and to what extent the Geneva linguist may be considered a realist is tackled.

01 01 JB code slcs.196.index 06 10.1075/slcs.196.index 297 297 1 Miscellaneous 13 01 04 Index Essays on Linguistic Realism Index Essays on Linguistic Realism 01 eng 01 01 JB code slcs.196.c11bur 06 10.1075/slcs.196.c11bur 271 296 26 Chapter 14 01 04 Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure's `realism' Chapter 11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure’s ‘realism’ 01 eng 30 00

Undoubtedly, F. de Saussure is among the founders of modern linguistics and ‘semiology’/semiotics – though, strangely enough, his success mainly resulted from a book he did not write in the strict sense. Since the publication of the Cours, edited by his disciples in 1916, his notion of ‘arbitrariness’ has become one of the main canonical catchwords of linguistics that are hardly ever called into question. After a reconstruction of the Saussurean concept of the linguistic sign and its arbitrariness the attempt is made to work out its shortcomings and partly correct them. It is argued that instead of arbitrariness motivation must be taken as the central semiotic feature of linguistic signs which, after their formation, may be subject to a continuous historical process of increasing arbitrarization, possibly leading to complete arbitrariness in the end. In the final section the question of whether and to what extent the Geneva linguist may be considered a realist is tackled.

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