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Inherent variability and linguistic
theory
last updated 30 Dec 2003
Bibliographical information
Published in Cognitive Linguistics 8, 73-108, 1997.
Abstract
Recent work by Guy and Kroch has used statistical data on
variation in performance as evidence for specific theories of language
structure, namely Lexical Phonology and Principles-and-Parameters
syntax. I accept the validity of their data and of their statistical
interpretations - Guy's `exponential model' and Kroch's `constant rate
effect'; but I question their interpretations of these data in terms of
language structure. Instead I argue that their data support a radically
different model of language structure based on networks of prototypes,
such as either Cognitive Grammar or Word Grammar.
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