Abstract
On the basis of five case studies from languages of the American Pacific Northwest, we argue that, at least in the areas of syntax and semantics, a scientific approach to the study of linguistic diversity must be empirically grounded in theoretically informed, hypothesis-driven fieldwork on individual languages. This runs counter to recent high-profile claims that large-scale typology based on the sampling of descriptive grammars yields superior results. We show that only a hypothesisdriven approach makes falsifiable predictions, and only a methodology that yields negative as well as positive evidence can effectively test those predictions. Targeted elicitation is particularly important for languages with a small number of speakers, where statistical analysis of large-scale corpora is impossible. Given that a large proportion of the world’s linguistic diversity is found in such languages, we conclude that formal, hypothesis-driven fieldwork constitutes the best way rapidly and efficiently to document the world’s remaining syntactic and semantic diversity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | e180-e226 |
Journal | Language |
Volume | 90 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2014 |
Keywords
- Fieldwork
- Methodology
- Salish
- Semantics
- Syntax
- Tsimshianic
- Wakashan
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language