Essays on linguistic realism / edited by Christina Behme, Martin Neef.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Behme, Christina, 1963- editor.

Neef, Martin, editor.

Series:

Studies in language companion series ; 0165-7763 Volume 196.

Studies in language companion series ; Volume 196

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Language and languages.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (316 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2018]

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Intro

Essays on Linguistic Realism

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Introduction to Essays on Linguistic Realism

1. Three kinds of linguistics

2. The chapters of the volume

3. The history of the book

References

1. The ontology of natural language

2. What kind of science is linguistics?

1. The nature of formal and empirical sciences

2. Methodology vs. ontology

3. Linguistic kinds: Sentences

4. Discovering and investigating meaning structure

5. The phenomenology of meaning

6. Linguistics as a mixed science

3. 'Biolinguistics'

1. Preview: What's wrong with 'biolinguistics'

2. Visual cognition: The role of early edge detection

The physical problem and its mathematical formulation

Generalities

Smoothing out the visual field

Identifying edges

From mathematical model to neural architecture

The Marr hierarchy and neurological literalism

3. Domain specificity and natural language

What computation do sets of NL sentences represent?

Rules in Hybrid Type-Logical Categorial Grammar (HTLCG)

Gapping

4. Implication is not domain specific

5. Summary and conclusions

4. The relevance of realism for language evolution theorizing

1. Introduction

2. Some highlights from current language evolution research

2.1 Cognitive capacities in non-human animals

2.2 How close to language is animal communication?

3. Ontological considerations

4. Does linguistic evidence rule out linguistic realism?

5. Conclusions

5. Describing linguistic objects in a realist way

A. Topic and background of the essay

1. Topic

2. Modified Realism

2.1 The position

2.2 Three components of Modified Realism

Constructive realism

Non-cognitivist mentalism (intentionalism).

Weaker functionalism

3. Discussion

3.1 Explanations. A reason for realism

3.2 Objects and data

3.3 Linguistic inter-disciplines

3.4 Placing Modified Realism

B. Grammatical description

4. Preliminaries. Informal grammars

4.1 Some basic distinctions

4.2 Grammars as texts

4.3 Remarks on idiolects and idiolect systems

4.4 Sample statement from an informal grammar

4.5 Terms in an informal grammar: Language specific and language overarching

Anchor 290

5. Formal grammars: Problems for grammar adequacy

5.1 Types of formal grammars. The requirement of semantic analogues

5.2 Problems with language names and domain names

5.3 Problems with grammatical terms

6. How to solve the problems

6.1 First Solution: The Irrelevance Conception

6.2 Second Solution: The Language-Feature Conception

Anchor 298

6.4 Third Solution: Cover-all Conceptions of Grammatical Terms

6.5 Fourth Solution: Relativizing Conceptions of Grammatical Terms

'article' relativized

'subject' relativized

6.6 Overcoming the opposition of 'comparative concept' vs. 'descriptive category'

6.7 Conclusion

C. Grammars and theories of language: Motivating axiomatization

7. Advantages of an axiomatic grammar format

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Important features of axiomatic theories

7.3 Discussion and explanations

7.4 Clarifying informal grammars by partial axiomatic reformulation

8. Grammatical statements: Informal and semi-formal

8.1 Example

8.2 Variables and constants

8.3 Evaluation

9. Grammatical terms taken over from a theory of language

9.1 A basic assumption.

9.2 Defining terms in a theory of language: Example

9.3 Using terms in a grammar as defined in a theory of language: Example

9.4 The identification of categories

D. Grammars as axiomatic theories

10. Grammars G of D and σ (1): The format

10.1 The theory-of-language requirement

10.2 Presupposing a theory of language

10.3 The language name. Language-determination and language-identification sentences

10.4 The language system name. System-determination sentences

10.5 The axioms

10.6 The theorems: Example

11. Grammars G of D and σ (2): Application and integration

11.1 Application

Anchor 330

11.3 Discussion

11.4 Integration

11.5 Accounting for quantitative aspects

11.6 Integrating linguistic and non-linguistic theories: The interconnection problem

11.7 Concluding remarks

Acknowledgements

6. Languages and other abstract structures

2. Three desiderata for Mixed Realism

2.1 Linguistic creativity and infinity

2.1.1 Creativity

2.1.2 Rule-following and infinity

2.2 Of tokens and types

2.3 Mixed Realism and respect

2.4 Taking stock

2.4.1 Mixed Realism and Modified Realism

3. Against Platonism

3.1 The right kind of 'wrong view'

3.2 Benacerraf's dilemma and respect

3.3 Conceptual distinctness

4. Ante Rem realism and the foundations of linguistics

4.1 Mathematical structuralism

4.2 Linguistic structures

4.3 Natural types

5. Conclusion

7. Autonomous Declarative Phonology

1. Fields of linguistics

2. A theory for languages as abstract objects

3. Autonomous Declarative Phonology

3.1 Defining phonology

3.2 Determining the set of phonological units

3.3 Paradigmatic properties of phonological units

3.4 Syntagmatic properties of phonological units

4. Conclusion.

References

8. Explaining linguistic facts in a realist theory of word formation

2. Lexical units

3. Word-formation relations, processes, and patterns

4. Explanation and prediction of statements of word-formation relations

Appendix

List of symbols

Axiomatic formalization

9. Cognitive propositions in realist linguistics

2. Propositions

2.1 Propositions in intensional semantics

2.2 Propositions as cognitive act types

2.3 Predication

2.4 Complex propositions

3. Foundational and empirical advantages of cognitive propositions

3.1 Cognitively distinct but representationally identical propositions

3.2 Linguistic cognition

3.3 The Millian modes of perceiving and recognizing

4. Cognitive propositions in a realist conception of linguistics

4.1 Semantic contents excluding Millian modes

4.2 Semantic content vs. individual psychologies

10. Languages as complete and distinct systems of reference

1. Sapir (1924)

2. Some subsequent developments

3. Simple formally complete and distinct arithmetic systems of reference

4. Some desiderata for formally complete and distinct system of reference for experience

5. Extending first-order logic with a particular ordering for individuals

11. The so-called arbitrariness of linguistic signs and Saussure's 'realism'

1. Introductory remarks

2. Saussure's concept of the sign and its arbitrariness

3. A non-Saussurean approach to arbitrariness and motivation

3.1 A plea for motivation

3.2 Discussion of some examples

3.3 Arbitrariness vs. motivation: Conclusions

4. Saussure - A realist?

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.