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LTT: R. Nefdt
March 19, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
Ryan Nefdt, University of Cape Town / Center Visiting Fellow
Structures and the Special Sciences: The Case of Linguistics
This will be an online lecture held via Zoom, and pre-registration is required. Please regsier here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mG3Kp9SKQVmd8RqCsIC4ww
ABSTRACT: In many ways the successes of theoretical linguistics in the mid-twentieth century ushered in a cognitive revolution in science at the time. Generative linguistics quickly established a paradigmatic framework for the scientific exploration of natural language syntax, phonology and eventually even semantics.
However, the situation in both theoretical linguistics and cognitive science has altered since that time. Non-generative theories abound in the study of syntax and semantics, and the so-called ‘Second Generation Cognitive Science’ (Sinha 2010) has sidelined the study of language as a conduit to the scientific exploration of the mind.
In this talk, I consider the application of ontic structural realist thinking in the special sciences. I suggest it as a solution to the problem of radical theory change in linguistics as well as the problem of multiple grammar formalisms. I argue further that the true scientific gift of the kind of formal linguistics established in the late 1950s was its structural ontology and naturalistic disposition, both of which carries over into the contemporary setting even if some of the content of its theories do not, before concluding that linguistics is a very special science indeed.
Details
- Date:
- March 19, 2021
- Time:
-
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
- Event Categories:
- Lunchtime Talks, Lunchtime Talks 2020-21
Venue
- Online Lecture