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Quantitative shift in linguistics – an old discussion revived

Summary/Abstract: The new trend of incorporating a large amount of quantitative data into linguistic research has sparked a wave of scientific positivism, both among researchers as well as the public. In addition to the inevitable comparison and conflict between qualitative and quantitative methods it has raised questions about the relationship between data-based and what are commonly called theoretical approaches to language science, the former casting doubt on the validity of the latter. However, on a closer look it appears that the new forum, regarding itself as methodologically oriented, can sometimes shift its focus from the question of which methodology should be used and when, to the much older divide in linguistics, between the formal and usage-based approaches. The discussion then becomes focussed on the nature of language as a research object. This is why the question asked is: “What will become of theory?” rather than “What will become of non-empirical linguistics?”The article proposes that there are two different definitions one can assign to the concept of “theory” – one can talk about the traditional part of the scientific model, i.e. the “why?” and “how?” question of every research project, or one can use it as a synonym for formal linguistics. The article claims that neither of them is in any conflict with empirical approaches. As a step in the scientific method it is in fact by definition unavoidable, because even without explicitly speculating about why a tendency occurs in data, a researcher is still forced to use theoretically based terminology. Conflict between formal approaches and data is equally misguided, because all branches of linguistics – descriptive, typological and formal – are cap­able of being, and often are, quantitatively empirical. Regardless of the amount of data, the role of theory cannot become marginalized, because one cannot exist without the other – theory provides data with meaning and data validates theory.

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