THREE FALLACIES THAT RECUR IN LINGUISTIC ARGUMENTATION
Abstract
This article discusses three theoretical fallacies that tend to recur in linguistics, and
can be found for instance in cognitive grammar and construction grammar. The first
fallacy concerns categories with both clear and unclear cases. It is a common fallacy
that the less-than-clear cases are regarded equal to clear cases, and, consequently,
the status of the whole category is considered to be less-than-clear. The clear cases
are clear even if the category is not completely sharp in its boundaries. The second
fallacy concerns continuums. Categories may intersect each other and form a continuum.
According to the fallacy, the categories lose their independent status if they
intersect with some other category. However, even if categories intersect, the intersection
area does not necessarily cover the intersecting categories entirely. The third
fallacy is a common one in cognitively oriented linguistics: the social properties of
language are confused with the mental properties of language.
Keywords: argumentation, fallacy, category, continuum, convention.
