Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:17:14.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Against taking linguistic diversity at “face value”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

David Pesetsky
David Pesetsky
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. [email protected]://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/pesetsky/index.html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Evans & Levinson (E&L) advocate taking linguistic diversity at “face value.” Their argument consists of a list of diverse phenomena and the assertion that no non-vacuous theory could possibly uncover a meaningful unity underlying them. I argue, with evidence from Tlingit and Warlpiri, that E&L's list itself should not be taken at face value – and that the actual research record already demonstrates unity amidst diversity.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 32 , Issue 5 , October 2009 , pp. 464 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cable, S. (2007) The grammar of Q: Q-particles and the nature of Wh-fronting, as revealed by the Wh-questions of Tlingit. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available at: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/000553.Google Scholar
Cable, S. (2008) Q-particles and the nature of wh-fronting. In: Quantification: A cross-linguistic perspective, ed. Matthewson, L., pp. 105–78. Elsevier. Available at:http://people.umass.edu/scable/papers/Q-Particles-and-Wh-Fronting.pdf.Google Scholar
Coon, J. & Preminger, O. (2009) Positional roots and case absorption. In: New perspectives in Mayan linguistics (MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 59), ed. Avelino, H., Coon, J. & Norcliffe, E., pp. 35–58. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available at:http://web.mit.edu/jcoon/www/Jessica_Coon/Publications_files/coonpremingerssila.pdf.Google Scholar
England, N. C. (1983) A grammar of Mam, a Mayan language. University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Harbour, D. (2006) Valence and atomic number. Unpublished manuscript, Queen Mary, London. Available at:http://webspace.qmul.ac.uk/dharbour/Harbour%20Valence%20Revised.pdf.Google Scholar
Haviland, J. B. (1994) “Te xa setel xulem” [The buzzards were circling]: Categories of verbal roots in (Zinacantec) Tzotzil. Linguistics 32:691–741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, C.-T. J. (1982) Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available at:http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/15215.Google Scholar
Laughren, M. (2002) Syntactic constraints in a “free word order language.” In: Language universals and variation, ed. Amberber, M., pp. 83–130. Ablex.Google Scholar
Legate, J. A. (2001) The configurational structure of a nonconfigurational language. In: Linguistic Variation Yearbook, vol. 1, ed. Pica, P., pp. 61–104. John Benjamins. Available at:http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~jlegate/livy.1.legate.pdf.Google Scholar
Legate, J. A. (2002) Warlpiri: Theoretical implications. Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available at:http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~jlegate/main.pdf.Google Scholar
Mithun, M. (1999) The languages of native North America (Cambridge Language Surveys). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Osada, T. (1992) A reference grammar of Mundari. Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.Google Scholar
Rizzi, L. (1997) The fine structure of the left periphery. In: Elements of grammar, ed. Haegeman, L., pp. 281–337. Kluwer Academic.CrossRefGoogle Scholar