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Discussion published In: Language and Dialogue
Vol. 8:2 (2018) ► pp.289–305

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Discussion articles

The theory myth

 | University of Münster (Germany)
Published online: 12 October 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00016.wei
Abstract
First of all, I would like to make clear that this paper is meant as a response to the attack against the Mixed Game Model (. 2010. Dialogue: The Mixed Game. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) launched by Harrissians in their articles of the Special Issue of this journal (. 2018. “Dialogue: The Key to Pragmatics.” In From Pragmatics to Dialogue, ed. by Edda Weigand and Istvan Kecskes. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, 1). When I became aware of the fact that against their dogmatic position no argument can take effect, I decided not to take part directly in such a pseudo-debate but to respond in a discussion article in the next issue (see the preface of the special issue). I am writing this discussion article not in the futile hope of changing the minds of Harrissian hardliners, but because I feel obliged to the other contributors of the Special Issue who made a plea for the MGM. Moreover, I feel obliged to the readers of this journal to defend my position regarding basic issues of linguistics. I’ll focus on central points and refer to my book on “Dialogue: The Mixed Game” for details.
Article outline
  • 1.‘Integration’ at the centre
  • 2.Distorted concepts
  • 3.The ‘theory myth’
  • 4.Rhetorical devices
  • 5.The touchstone of examples
  • 6.Systematizing the puzzle
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
References (35)
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