Generative linguistics: ‘Galilean style’

Collins, John (2023) Generative linguistics: ‘Galilean style’. Language Sciences, 100. ISSN 0388-0001

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Abstract

Generative linguistics is often claimed by Chomsky to have a 'Galilean style', which is intended to position linguistics as a science continuous with standard practise in the natural sciences. These claims, however, are more suggestive than explanatory. The paper will, first, explain just what a Galilean style is. It will then be argued that its application to two key notions in generative linguistics - the competence/performance distinction (with reference to centre-embedding) and the notion of computation - demands a departure from what we might expect of a Galilean style. In this sense, the epithet is misleading. It will also be shown, however, that the 'Galilean' label is appropriate once we factor in the difference between a science concerned with kinematics (the relations between objects in space and time) and one concerned with language.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Philosophy
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	19 Sep 2023 10:30
Last Modified:	26 Oct 2024 00:00
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93060
DOI:	10.1016/j.langsci.2023.101585

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