Empirical Linguistics (Open linguistics series) - Hardcover

Inhaltsangabe

For many years, linguistics developed on the basis of the speaker's intuitive knowledge of their native language. The result was often abstruse theorizing, remote from observable realities. Now linguists are studying the language used in real life, rather than a hypothetical mental competence. This text offers a series of case studies drawn from the author's work, which show how the new approach is leading to new insights into the nature of English and of human language in general. Sometimes, beliefs about language which have passed as axiomatic for decades are overturned immediately they are confronted with concrete evidence. Truths are emerging, for example about the structural unity of English across its diverse genres, which could not be expressed within the intuitionist paradigm. This title focuses on concepts and concrete discoveries, rather than on the technical details of computer processing. It seeks to provide a clear, accessible introduction to the kinds of thing that are happening with the new linguistics.

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