Form and formalism in linguistics

Contents
Preface James McElvenny
1 Visual formalisms in comparative-historical linguistics Judith Kaplan
1 Introduction
2 From tables to trees
3 Canonical visual metaphors
4 Metaphors and visual aids in twentieth-century textbooks
5 From anti-realism to realism in the digital era
6 Conclusion
2 Alternating sounds and the formal franchise in phonology James McElvenny
1 Introduction
2 Alternating sounds in America
3 Steinthal and the Humboldtian tradition
4 Phonetic latitude and sound laws
5 Conclusion
3 On Sapir's notion of form/pattern and its aesthetic background Jean-Michel Fortis
1 IntroductionParts of this chapter have already appeared as a post of the multi-author blog History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences Fortis2014 and in an extended French version Fortis2015.
2 An example of pattern: the phonological system
3 Patterns as Gestalten
4 The form-feeling
5 Diachrony
6 Form, function and formal play
7 The form drive
8 On the source of the form-feeling: Croce?
9 Form-feeling and Formgefühl: Vischer and Wölfflin
10 Form-feeling and Formgefühl: Lipps and Dessoir
11 Conclusion
4 Linguistics as a ``special science'': A comparison of Sapir and Fodor Els Elffers
1 Introduction
2 Pitfalls of predecessorship
3 Sapir: against a ``superorganic''
4 Fodor: against reductive physicalism
5 Similarities and differences
6 Which basic and special sciences?
7 Characterizing special sciences
8 Laws and exceptions
9 Getting involved
10 Clues to token physicalism
11 What became of token physicalism?
12 Linguistics as a ``special science''
5 The impact of Russian formalism on linguistic structuralism Bart Karstens
1 Introduction
2 Mukarovsky's definition of structuralism as opposed to formalism
3 Lévi-Strauss's voicing of structuralism contra Propp's organicist formalism
4 Systemic formalism and its points of contact with structuralism
5 Structuralism as a merger of multiple constituents
6 Conclusion
6 The resistant embrace of formalism in the work of Émile Benveniste and Aurélien Sauvageot John E. Joseph
1 Introduction
2 Benveniste and structuralism
3 The issue of discontinuity
4 Benveniste’s early work: in what sense is it structuralist?
5 The spirit of philology in Sauvageot
6 Benveniste’s later work: enunciation
7 Conclusion
7 Linguistics as a science of structure Ryan M. Nefdt
1 Introduction
2 Theory change in generative linguistics
3 From phrases to phases
4 Structural realism and linguistics
5 In search of lost paradigms
6 Conclusion
8 Formalism, grammatical rules, and normativity Geoffrey K. Pullum
1 Introduction
2 Rules
3 Normativity
4 Prescriptivism
5 Formalization
6 Understanding
7 Conclusion
9 Linguistic form: A political epistemology Nick Riemer
1 Introduction
2 Must language have a single form?
3 Ideological critiques of linguistics: a sampler
4 Ideology as process or as magic
5 Western ethnocentrism
6 Theoretical domination?
7 Education and linguistic ‘science’ in a post-truth world
Index
Name index
Subject index