Against Taking Linguistic Diversity at "Face Value"
Evans & Levinson (E&L)advocate taking linguistic diversity at "face value". Their argument consists of a list of diverse phenomena, and the assertion that no non-vacuous theory could possibly uncover a meaningful unity underlying them. I argue, with evidence from Tlingit and Warlpi...
| Published in: | Behavioral and Brain Sciences |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52701 |
| Summary: | Evans & Levinson (E&L)advocate taking linguistic diversity at "face value". Their argument consists of a list of diverse phenomena, and the assertion that no non-vacuous theory could possibly uncover a meaningful unity underlying them. I argue, with evidence from Tlingit and Warlpiri, that E&L's list itself should not be taken at face value — and that the actual research record already demonstrates unity amidst diversity. |
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