Defective documentation. International linguistics and Modern Norwegian

Abstract

In many areas of linguistics, international publication of one's research in English has become the norm. At the same time, one may find linguistic material from any language quoted in order to support a theoretical argument. This article discusses the use of examples from Norwegian in modem theoretical linguistic literature written by non-native linguists. It shows that these examples are often incorrect and that defective documentation is reused. This seems to be related to a fundamental lack of understanding of the language at issue, and to many linguists' inability to base their research on the linguistic competence of others. Linguistic publishing thus has a problem, yet the situation is all the more serious for linguistics as a discipline. In principle, defective documentation means defective data, which, in turn, may lead to defective analysis and correspondingly to ill-founded theories. A critique of linguistic documentation represents a necessary step in order to re-establish a sound empirical base of linguistics, whatever the theoretical approach.