LINGUIST List 18.305: An Intelligent Man's Answer to Linguistic Truisms

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LINGUIST List 18.305
Mon Jan 29 2007 Disc: An Intelligent Man's Answer to Linguistic Truisms Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer <sawyerlinguistlist.org>
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Directory 1. Alexander Gross, An Intelligent Man's Answer to Linguistic Truisms Message 1: An Intelligent Man's Answer to Linguistic Truisms
Date: 25-Jan-2007 From: Alexander Gross <languagesprynet.com> Subject: An Intelligent Man's Answer to Linguistic Truisms How convenient to suppose that the study of linguistics ''works in the same way that chemists find some utility in divorcing the components of a compound of interest from one another.'' But chemistry can look back to well over two centuries of continued progress with indisputable practical spin-offs cropping up almost every year since Lavoisier. What precise counterparts can mainstream linguistics point to during the past fifty years (or arguably since Saussure one century ago)? Is it possible that such a claim does not take us headlong into what Stephen Jay Gould in 1981called ''physics envy,'' even if the object of envy here is not physics but chemistry? I find it amazing how little the self-justifications for mainstream linguistics have changed over recent decades. It is almost as though some of these scholars are trapped in a time-warp of collective self-indulgence. I also fail to detect here any evidence that an attempt has been made to read the essay I referred to. Anyone who read it would have found references to such further real world phenomena as translation, theatre, Nazism and related totalitarianisms, concentration camps, guilt and innocence, and possible corruption within the world of academic funding, even though some mainstream apologists will assure us that none of these matters can possibly have any relationship to language, much less the sheer abstract glory of linguistics itself. As for my two Dartmouth presentations on Evidence Based vs. Voodoo Linguistics, cited by Alex Kravchenko, I see no sign that any attempt has been made to look at these either. But of course mainstream linguists do not need to, for they know in advance that all such material, including Kravchenko's message, Dalrymple's article, and the Codrescu NPR statement, can rank as nothing more than ''philology.'' There seems to be an incurable faith among mainstream linguists that they actually qualify as scientists, that their favorite doctrines must somehow also rank as scientific breakthroughs on a Galilean or Einsteinian scale. But I believe nothing could be further from the truth. This system of belief also seems to be quite lacking in one other crucial element of science--the slightest trace of skepticism. Little wonder then that the prime movers of this fantasy have sought to shift the ground of their work from language to philosophy, psychology, or ''cognitive'' spin-offs, even going so far as to rebaptize their MIT nerve center as the ''Department of Linguistics & Philosophy.'' But I see the primary basis of language as neither philosophical nor psychological nor cognitive in nature--rather it is far more likely to emerge as primarily physiological, springing from the lungs and breath, the bronchi, the larynx, lips, and tongue, not to mention--at least in the case of trained speakers--almost every muscle in the body. Which is not to neglect all the ways these organs can fail to work harmoniously together nor the presence of other factors. This means that our study can probably never be any more (or less) precise than other physiological processes. More about this can be found in my material on Evidence Based Linguistics. Here's something more about ''physics envy'' by the astrophysical engineer and satellite designer C.B. Pease. I wonder how many contributors to Linguist List may find his description familiar: ''Physics is widely regarded as Top Science, because it is `exact'. Its theories are simple and elegant. And they are always followed to the letter--except when they are not (Big Bang). I started out as a physicist, and I don't see what is so special about it at all. ''But many `inexact' scientists do. For generations they have been trying to raise the status of their respective sciences by attempting to prove that they are exact too. They devise simple elegant theories for the natural world to obey. And the natural world fails to oblige. The result is gargantuan battles between different camps, over which over-simplified theory (sometimes grossly so) is correct. And they are still doing it. One meets the phenomenon of the `acrimonious debate' quite often in the literature.'' One also frequently finds a dismissal of ''eloquence'' in mainstream literature. But in a field so chaotically uprooted as linguistics today, eloquence may in fact be the closest we may come towards ever achieving clarity, perhaps even ''science.'' All the best to linguists everywhere! alex References: Codrescu, Andre. The Human Art of Translation. NPR interview audible at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6626808 Dalrymple, Theodore. The Gift of Language. City Journal, Autumn, 2006. online at: http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_4_urbanities-language.html) Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man. 1981. New York: Norton. Gross, Alexander. Translator's preface to a his second version of Weiss' ''The Investigation,'' written as part of commission. Online at: http://language.home.sprynet.com/theatdex/weiss2.htm --Two essays on Evidence Based Linguistics vs. Voodoo Linguistics, online at: http://languag2.home.sprynet.com/f/evidence.htm and: http://languag2.home.sprynet.com/f/evishop.htm Kravchenko, Alexander. An Intelligent Man's Answer to Linguistic Truisms. online at: http://linguist.emich.edu/issues/18/18-197.html#1 Pease, C.B. Physics Envy. Online at: http://www.bevpease.force9.co.uk/l.scientific%20truth.htm#_Physics_Envy Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science Computational Linguistics Discipline of Linguistics General Linguistics History of Linguistics Linguistic Theories Philosophy of Language Translation Respond to list\|Read more issues\|LINGUIST home page\|Top of issue

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