The paper addresses the way in which modern linguistics, - in particular, but not exclusively, the generative tradition -, has constructed its core concepts. It argues that a particular form of construction, reminiscent of, but crucially different from, abstraction, which is dubbed 'idealisation', plays a central role here. The resemblances and differences between abstractions and idealisations are investigated, and consequences of the reliance on idealisations are reviewed. © Walter de Gruyter.
CITATION STYLE
Stokhof, M., & Van Lambalgen, M. (2011, August). Abstractions and idealisations: The construction of modern linguistics. Theoretical Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1515/THLI.2011.001
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