From Paradigm to Practice in Linguistics. Papers from the Michigan Linguistic Society Meeting, Vol. 1, No. 2.

It is important that we reflect on the conceptual framework from which our study of language has emerged, since the problems, methods, and aims of what has been called modern linguistics are rapidly being replaced by the concerns of another framework or paradigm. Such new paradigms, to be viable, must not be distorted by starting points that unduly restrict analysis and research. Therefore, since the transformational (and neo-transformational) model is able to probe more deeply into the reality of language, often compensating for the inadequacies of the structural approach to account for the data, it is to be preferred. These richer theories illustrate advance through their demonstration, though incomplete and provisional, of the laws of language on a global scale. However, the charge of onesidedness as applied to the now-dominant perspective(s) is not easily answered. To the extent that it cannot be answered, the current "rationalist" efforts must be viewed as too limiting to account satisfactorily for the phenomena (language) they are attempting to explain. In the future, the mode of abstraction and directive for research must be critically appraised for the way they inform theory, fact, research, and application. The ultimate criterion for evaluation cannot incontrovertibly be an appeal to the concept "science"; the critic must be aware of his pre-scientific grounds for judgment. (Author/DB)