The Evidential Basis of Linguistic Argumentation (Hardcover)

Currently, one of the methodological debates in linguistics focuses on the question of what kinds of "data" are allowed in different linguistic theories and what subtypes of data can work as "evidence" for or against particular hypotheses. The first part of the volume puts forward a methodological framework called the p-model that is expected to account for the data/evidence problem in linguistics. The aim of the case studies in the second part is to show how this framework can be "applied" to the everyday research practice of the working linguist, and how it can increase the "effectiveness" of linguistic theorising. Accordingly, the case studies exemplify that the p-model can come to grips with diverse "object"-scientific quandaries in syntax, semantics and pragmatics. The third part includes case studies that illustrate how it copes with "meta"scientific issues such as inconsistency in linguistic theories and the relationship between thought experiments and real experiments."