When linguists talk mathematical logic

摘要

Given the importance of recursion in modern linguistics, there ought to be much to commend in Watumull et al.'s (2014) attempt to clarify what recursion is (or ought to be); I have trudged this very terrain myself, using some of the same sources, and in order to make similar points (e.g., Lobina, 2011, but especially in Lobina, 2012). However, there are so many issues with Watumull et al.'s own attempt that a proper response is in order. I will here limit myself to the following: (a) the characterization of recursion these authors offer is wholly mistaken, the unavoidable result of misunderstanding, misrepresenting, and misinterpreting the relevant literature from the formal sciences; and b) as a corrective, I provide a definition of recursion that stands on much firmer ground in order to then show how it relates to Chomsky's introduction of recursive techniques into linguistics.