Re: linguistic dogma

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Article #3070

#3070

From: Jacques Guy
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 1994 01:40

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walkerj@torolab4.vnet.ibm.com (James Walker) writes:

>William Labov's new book ("Principles of Linguistic Change, Vol. 1")
>contains an interesting and very a propos anecdote by David de Camp
>(pp.369-70).  His Ph.D. supervisors required him to revise his analysis 
>of the San Francisco English vowel system because his data suggested 
>that speakers produced a distinction that they couldn't perceive, which
>went against his supervisor's basic assumptions about the symmetry of
>production and perception. 

So there you are. Reject the data that contradicts the theory. Even
better: fabricate data to prop up the theory (the rat that the cat 
that the dog chased caught squealed). And there was a recent thread
here on "is linguistics a science?" !!! As if the question needed
to be asked.
scientology.

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From: jbm@newsserver.trl.oz.au (Jacques Guy)
Newsgroups: sci.lang,bit.listserv.words-l
Subject: Re: linguistic dogma
Date: 7 Aug 1994 11:40:32 +1000
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne Vic, Australia
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