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Confessio grammatici

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Morris Halle
Morris Halle*
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Abstract

This article represents the Presidential Address delivered at the Golden Anniversary Meeting of the LSA in New York, 29 December 1974, and attempts to provide a personal answer to the question as to how one goes about doing linguistics. Although the author recommends certain moves—e.g., diligent search for illuminating leading ideas, attention to formal aspects of the description, care and sophistication in dealing with data—he is at pains to point out there is no hope of ever finding a procedure for discovering insightful solutions to linguistic problems. This puts the linguist into the same boat with practitioners of every other science, and suggests that progress in linguistics (as in every other science) is the result of a combination of good ideas, powerful formulations, and careful attention to facts.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 1975 , pp. 525 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © 1975 Linguistic Society of America

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References

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