Inconsistency in two approaches to German affricates. Part 1: The Basic Inconsistency of German Affricates in Wurzel's approach

Linguistics lacks clear methodological guidelines which could be made use of whenever one faces a contradiction. The basic inconsistency of German affricates provides an instructive example of the problems emerging from this situation. This paper aims to reveal why Wurzel's eclectic framework, applying both notions of structuralist phonology and SPE, yields an irresolvable inconsistency. CV phonology raised the hope that the latter could be void of the shortcomings characterising earlier approaches. The continuation of this paper, Rákosi (2014) will be devoted to the analysis of Prinz & Wiese's (1991) approach

Inconsistency in two approaches to German affricates. Part 2: The Basic Inconsistency of German Affricates in Prinz & Wiese’s approach

Irresolvable inconsistencies can often be solved within a new theoretical framework. CV phonology raised the hope that it could be void of the shortcomings characterising earlier approaches to the basic inconsistency of German affricates. Although Prinz & Wiese's (1991) approach is clearly better from several points of view than Wurzel’s eclectic framework, the basic inconsistency of German affricates did not become solvable within this framework, either. The reason for this is, above all, that the conflicting test results could not be separated from each other satisfactorily, in a well-founded manner

The fabulous engine: strengths and flaws of psycholinguistic experiments

In methodological debates in linguistics, the scientificness of linguistics is often felt to be unsatisfactory in comparison to the standards of the natural sciences. This inferiority complex is in most cases articulated as the requirement to turn linguistics into a mature empirical theory with the help of, for example, the elaboration and conduct of psycholinguistic experiments. This paper argues that the proposals which have been put forward to fulfill this requirement are based not on workable and generally applied norms of the natural sciences but on outmoded and untenable tenets of the standard view of the analytical philosophy of science. Therefore, a two-step strategy is suggested: metascientific reflection on the nature and limits of experiments as data sources in linguistics has to be based on the continuous comprehension and adjustment of the reflection on the research activities of linguists while working with experiments on the one hand, and insights gained by philosophers of science studying experiments in the natural sciences on the other. The feasibility of this strategy is supported by a case study on psycholinguistic experiments in metaphor research

With or without the definite article : On the syntax of anaphoric possessor strategies in Hungarian

That noun phrases may constitute a binding domain is a key component among the parallelisms between the syntax of noun phrases and clauses. Reuland (2007, 2011) and Despić (2011, 2015) have shown recently that the definite article plays a crucial role in delimiting this domain, since dedicated possessive reflexive anaphors are only possible in languages that lack a prenominal definite article. Hungarian has several anaphoric possessor strategies, which vary in whether they require, allow, or prohibit the use of the definite article in the possessive noun phrase. This paper gives an overview of the grammar of these strategies, and presents a discussion of the results of a questionnaire survey that was conducted to better understand the delicate distribution of the definite article in these constructions. The importance of these Hungarian data lies in showing that Reuland’s conjecture describes an important factor not only in cross-linguistic, but also in language internal variation in definite article use in possessive DP’s

On the rhetoricity of psycholinguistic experiments

Experiments have to be objective and intersubjectively controllable, and the experimental report must not make use of rhetorical tools that aim merely at persuading the reader but it has to allow the reader a direct access to the experimental evidence. At the same time, however, the reliability of psycholinguistic experiments does not seem to stem from an impersonal and straightforward linkage between “empirical facts” and hypotheses. Rather, it depends crucially on the peculiarities and the plausibility of the argumentation put forward in the experimental report, on its persuasiveness and its convincing force. The present paper aims at resolving this problem that I call the rhetorical paradox of psycholinguistic experiments