LINGUIST List 4.10

Mon 11 Jan 110103

Qs: Philosophy, Frankfurt, Minor Languages

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Directory

1. Torbjoern Lager, Philosophy of science and linguistics
2. Wayles Browne, Frankfurt paper
3. "Robert S. Kirsner", Fate of "minor" languages etc

Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy which tries to
analyze/define/explicate concepts like theory, explanation, prediction,
falsification, verification, law, descriptive generalization, and other
important concepts relevant to science. Some philosophers of science
deal specifically with particular sciences such as physics and
phychology, for example. Now, linguistics is a science, but I haven't
been able to find any papers or books dealing with the application of
philosophy of science to linguistics. Please help!

I'm looking for answers to questions like:

What is a linguistic explanation? Does grammar rules have predictive
power? Are grammar rules laws? Should they be regarded as descriptive,
normative, or as definitions? Can grammars be falsified?
(Please don't get the impression that I am interested in grammatical
theory only, because that's not the case.)

Finally, are there any positivist linguists around? Any
falsificationists? How would you defend your positions?

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Torbjoern Lager

*---------------------------------**-------------------------------------*------

Torbjoern Lager E-mail: lagerling.gu.se
Department of Linguistics Phone: +46 31 7731175
University of Gothenburg Fax: +46 31 7734853
Renstroemsparken
412 98 Gothenburg
Sweden

**-*-----*-*------------------*------------------------------------------------

I have seen a reference to the following paper:
Cabar, D., and Ch. Wilder (1992), Long Head Movement and Clitization
in Croatian. Sprachwissenschaft in Frankfurt, Arbeitspapier Nr.7.
Is this part of a series of publications by the Linguistics Department
in Frankfurt am Main? How does one get this paper or the series? Please
answer to my address: jn5jcornella.bitnet or jn5jcornella.cit.cornell.edu
Many thanks!
 Wayles Browne, Modern Languages, Morrill Hall, Cornell Uni-
versity, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA. Tel. 607-255-0712.

Dear Reader,
 I would appreciate if you could send the following
information to me at idt1rskmvs.oac.ucla.edu:

 [1] The email address of the Modern Language Association

 [2] Names, addresses, and email addresses of
 scholars who are involved IN ANY EFFORTS by
 the MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION or the
 LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA to SAFEGUARD
 PROGRAMS IN SO-CALLED "MINOR" OR "CRITICAL"
 LANGUAGES AND CULTURES AT AMERICAN
 UNIVERSITIES DURING THE CURRENT FINANCIAL
 CRISIS.

Thank you very much. I would be grateful for an IMMEDIATE response.

 Cordially,
 Robert S. Kirsner
 Department of Germanic Languages
 UCLA