Abstract
The authors begin their book with the assertion, “Many linguists today assume that theirs is an empirical and deductive science, and that scientific progress in the domain of their research is possible” (p. 1). They then proceed in an interesting, well-written, and informative case study of the evolution of generative grammar to cast doubt on the veracity of this assertion. The central focus is the nature of the debates among researchers developing what came to be known as generative semantics and interpretive semantics. The book attempts to detail who influenced whom and who was interested in what. More particularly, Huck and Goldsmith ask to what extent data, analyses, and argumentation were critical to the debates. The central question is: To what extent were generativist scholars moved one way or the other by rational considerations? The answer, not surprisingly, is: Not much. The real story is one about personalities, not about truth and reason. They attempt to explain why paying particular attention to the personalities involved, the role of the linguistic institutions where the participants worked, and the research agendas of each is important.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
