Perspectives pour la linguistique : de la linguistique descriptive à la linguistique explicative. Perspectives for linguistics: from descriptive to explanatory linguistics
Perspectives pour la linguistique : de la linguistique descriptive à la linguistique explicative. Perspectives for linguistics: from descriptive to explanatory linguistics

Summary/Abstract: The text deals with one of the challenges of linguistics, which is to effectively combine de- cription and explanation in linguistics. It is necessary that linguistic theories are not only capable of adequately describing their object of study within their framework, but they must also have a suitable explanatory power. Linguistics centred around the explanation of the why of the system is called here ‘explana-tory’ or ‘non-autonomous’, in contrast to ‘descriptive’ or ‘autonomous’ linguistics, which is focused on the description of the system, the distinction being based on the difference in the objects of study, the goals and the descriptive and explanatory possibilities of the theories. From the point of view presented here, a comprehensive study of language has three main components: a general theory of what language is, a resulting theory and description, which is a function of this theory, of how language is organised, functions and has evolved in the human brain, and an explanation of the properties of language found. The explanatory value of a general linguistic theory is a function of various elements, among others, the quantity of the primitive elements of the theory adopted and the effectiveness of Ock- ham’s razor principle of simplicity. It is also a function of the quality of those elements which can be drawn not only from within the system, but also from outside the system becoming in this situ ation logically prior to the object under study. In science, in linguistics, one naturally needs two types of approach, two types of linguistics, descriptive/autonomous and explanatory/non-autonomous, one must first describe reality in order to explain it. But it is also certain that since the aim of science is to explain in order to reach that higher level of scientificity above pure description, it is necessary that this aim be realized in dif- ferent linguistic theories within different research programs, uniting descriptivist and explanatory approaches.

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