The Applicability of Kuhn's Paradigms to the History of Linguistics

Abstract

This paper examines the applicability to the history of linguistics of Thomas Kuhn's conception of the history of science. It concludes that his notion of REVOLUTION, borrowed from the history of the non-sciences, can be applied to the history of linguistics; but the same is not true of his other key notion, the PARADIGM. The possession of paradigms, according to Kuhn, is what distinguishes the hard sciences from fields in the humanities and social sciences which have not achieved scientific maturity. Kuhn regards a paradigm as (1) resulting from an outstanding scientific achievement on the part of a single innovator, and (2) commanding uniform assent among all the members of the discipline. If these two requirements are to be everywhere met, the concept cannot be applied either to the history or the present state of linguistics. Serious objections can also be raised to other features of Kuhn's theory, such as the view that shifting allegiance from one paradigm to another is a largely irrational process. The paper recommends, then, that linguists abandon the theory.