Description
What is a language? What do scientific grammars tell us about the structure of individual languages and human language in general? What kind of science is linguistics? These and other questions are the subject of Ryan M. Nefdt's Language, Science, and Structure.Linguistics presents a unique and challenging subject matter for the philosophy of science. As a special science, its formalisation and naturalisation inspired what many consider to be a scientific revolution in the study of mind and language. Yet radical internal theory change, multiple competing frameworks, and issues of modelling and realism have largely gone unaddressed in the field. Nefdt develops a structural realist perspective on the philosophy of linguistics which aims to confront the aforementioned topics in new ways while expanding the outlook toward new scientific connections and novel philosophical insights. On this view, languages are real patterns which emerge from complex biological systems. Nefdt's exploration of this novel view will be especially valuable to those working in formal and computational linguistics, cognitive science, and the philosophies of science, mathematics, and language.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgementsPrefacePart 1: Introduction1.1 The Philosophy of Linguistics1.2 Generative and Non-Generative Frameworks1.3 Structures and Structuralisms1.4 A Guide to the BookPart 2: Old Landscapes, New Maps2.1 What is a Language, Anyway?2.2 Object-oriented accounts2.3 State and Network accountsPart 3: The Many and the None3.1 Anti-realist Accounts3.2 Why I am not a Pluralist3.3 No Country for Clear ResolutionsPart 4: Language and Structure4.1 Moderate Naturalism4.2 Languages as Real Patterns4.3 Grammars as Compression AlgorithmsPart 5: Linguistic Patterns and Biological Systems5.1 Biolinguistics and Biology5.2 Unbanishing the 'Linguistic Community'5.3 A Note on AcquisitionPart 6: A Case Study: Words and SLEs6.1 The Naive Picture and Three Naturalistic Desiderata6.2 Constructions and Constraints6.3 A Structural Approach to Linguistic EntitiesPart 7: Structural Realism and the Science of Linguistics7.1 The Aim and Scope7.2 Linguistic Theory Change7.3 Structural Realism in Generative Linguistics7.4 The Problem of Multiple GrammarsPart 8: Language at the Interface8.1 A Note on Complex Systems8.2 Levels of Abstraction8.3 The Proposal8.4 Semantic MetastructuralismPart 9: Language and Cognitive Science: an arranged marriage 9.1 The Dilemma9.2 The Study of Mind in Language9.3 Intersection, Integration, and Architecture9.4 Unifying Cognitive StructuresConclusion: A Canopy in the RainforestReferences
