Paradigm changes in linguistics: from reductionism to holism

Abstract

Linguistics like any science has undergone a series of paradigm changes, one of the most important being the change from the view of language as a sign system to that of language-in-use. In the face of the progress made in the natural and social sciences in recent years, from biology to economics, the question has to be posed where linguistics and the human sciences find their place in the array of different disciplines. Two guidelines have become evident: the barriers between individual disciplines seem to be pulled down, and the resulting move towards consilience cannot be reconciled with a methodology of reductionism. What conclusions about the object and methodology of linguistics should we draw? The object of linguistics, language, does not exist on its own. It can be grasped as the human faculty of speaking which is integrated with other human abilities, among them perceiving, thinking, and feeling. Its methodology needs, of necessity, to take account of the manifold interactions between human abilities in the complex area of human action and behaviour. Consequently, a change from reductionism to holism in theorizing seems inevitable. The Mixed Game Model is introduced as a holistic model which claims to describe how human beings come to grips with their individual as well as social purposes and interests in dialogic action games.