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"The present book is our latest contribution to the history and philosophy of linguistics. It continues a series of previously published monographs and papers which have attempted to discuss foundational problems of linguistic inquiry systematically. This long-term programme aims at the clarification of issues which have not been dealt with extensively in the literature we know, although their relevance seems to be beyond doubt. Among others, the topics we have already tackled include the structure and the function of linguistic data and evidence; the structure of linguistic theories; the peculiarities of thought experiments and real experiments in linguistics; fallacies in linguistic theorising; the relation between the social and the cognitive factors that shape the content of linguistic theories; the historiography of linguistics etc. In raising these and further issues, we have proceeded parallelly on two levels. First, we have based our metatheoretical research on a great number of detailed case studies in the fields of generative syntax, cognitive semantics, pragmatics, and phonology. Second, we have put forward a metatheoretical framework - called the p-model - capable of accounting for the foundational problems at hand and of analysing the subject matter of diverse case studies"--
List of contents
1. Introduction: the Main Problem (P); Part I. The State of the Art: 2. Approaches to inconsistency in the philosophy of science; 3. Approaches to inconsistency in linguistic theorising; Part II. Paraconsistency: 4. The paraconsistent treatment of inconsistency; 5. Prospects and limits of the paraconsistent treatment of inconsistency; Part III. Plausible Argumentation: 6. From paraconsistency to plausible argumentation; 7. Inconsistency and theory change; 8. The treatment of inconsistency in Optimality Theory; 9. The heuristics of inconsistency resolution; Part IV. Summary: 10. The methodological background; 11. Conclusions.
About the author
András Kertész is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Debrecen (Hungary). He is Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and of Academia Europaea. His fields of research are the philosophy of linguistics and theoretical linguistics. Notable publications include Data and Evidence in Linguistics (Cambridge University Press 2012; with Csilla Rákosi).Csilla Rákosi is Senior Research Fellow at the MTA-DE-SZTE Research Group for Theoretical Linguistics, Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH), Hungary. Her fields of research are the philosophy and methodology of linguistics and argumentation theory. Notable publications include Data and Evidence in Linguistics (Cambridge University Press 2012; with András Kertész).
Summary
Bringing together ideas from linguistics and philosophy of science, this pioneering book offers an in-depth analysis of inconsistencies that occur when we try to theorise about language. It provides a novel metatheoretical framework, which can be used to improve the effectiveness of the working linguist's problem-solving activity.
Foreword
This book is the first systematic analysis of the emergence of, and the resolution strategies for, inconsistency in linguistic theorizing.
