On Realism in Reconstruction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2863915 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert A Hall (0009-0007-8376-5875, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1960 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 203 |
| Publication date | 1960-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/410985 |
| OpenAlex | W2326027381 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
In his article Proto-Indo-European Reality and Reconstruction, Ernst Pulgram states that ‘when we reconstruct, through the methods of comparative historical linguistics, an array of asterisked Proto-Indo-European forms, the procedure itself implies that the result of our endeavours is a uniform construct’, and asserts that ‘anything in linguistics that is timeless, non-dialectal, and non-phonetic, by definition does not represent a real language’ (422). He then bases his further discussion of the impossibility of learning about ‘Real Proto-Indo-European’ on the presumed unreal nature of the reconstructed proto-language: ‘No reputable linguist pretends that Proto-Indo-European reconstructions represent a reality’ (423). Hence, for Pulgram, the formulaic character of our reconstructions of individual items renders it impossible to make a serious attempt to reconstruct texts in a proto-language: ‘To write an Aesopian fable or the Lord's Prayer in reconstructed Proto-Indo-European is innocent enough as a pastime, but the text has no doubt little if any resemblance to any speech ever heard on earth’ (423)
Epistemology · Realism · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy · Philosophy, History, and Historiography · Political Theory and Influence
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,05 |
| Citation span | 1961 - 2019 (59) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |