On the misuse of the notion of ‘abduction’ in linguistics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10141260 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Guy Deutscher (St. John's College of Nursing, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 469-485 |
| Publication date | 2002-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-2267 • E-ISSN: 1469-7742 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s002222670200169x |
| OpenAlex | W2116346716 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 8 |
‘Abduction’, a concept from the philosophy of Charles Peirce, has become extremely popular in linguistics in the last three decades. This article argues that the interpretation of abduction in (historical) linguistics is based on a critical misunderstanding: it relies on an aborted model, which was rejected by Peirce himself, and it conflates two incompatible frameworks (Peirce's early and late ideas), to create a picture that is entirely incoherent. In consequence, it puts linguists directly at odds with mainstream practice in philosophy and science. Moreover, as currently interpreted, the term ‘abductive change’ is neither adequate nor necessary for classifying linguistic innovations
Applied linguistics · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Mainstream · Odds · Philosophy of language · Philosophy of science · Reflexive pronoun · Sociology · Computer Science · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
The annotative dual-clause juxtaposition construction in Japanese
A bias-driven modal development of evidentiality
Pragmatic patterns in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The design of a theoretical, methodological, analytical framework to analyse hegemony in discourse
A formal approach to reanalysis and the Early Semantic Stability Hypothesis
Looking back on two centuries of back-formation research
On the diachronic development of C1V1- reduplication in some Austronesian languages
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,41 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2025 (17) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |