Conference on Functionalism and Formalism in Current Linguistics, Milwaukee, April 18-20, 1996

当前语言学的趋势在几个方面彼此不同;尽管如此，许多差异都围绕着两种被称为形式主义方法和功能主义方法的观点两极分化。大多数人认为这两个方向是相互排斥和竞争的。因此，每种方法的实践者一直在相对孤立的情况下开展工作，与相反趋势的实践者保持距离，相互交流甚至试图澄清关键问题的情况很少。 在一个研究领域内的分歧是适得其反的;如果裂痕的基础是性质尚未得到充分阐述和审查的分歧，那就更是如此。拟议中的语言学功能主义和形式主义会议通过采用两个中心目标直接解决了该领域当前状态的这一方面。一种是列出一小部分基本参数，根据这些参数可以对每种方法的基本假设进行解释和对比。澄清这两种方法之间的相似之处和不同之处为解决我们的第二个目标提供了基础：评估这两种方法的兼容程度，并探索一种方法的见解如何使另一种方法受益。鉴于形式主义和功能主义的二分法在人文社会科学的其他领域也是一个有意义的二分法，会议的结果可能有助于语言学内外两个方向的和解。

Current trends in linguistics differ from each other in several ways; nonetheless, many of the differences have polarized around two persuasions known as the formalist approach and the functionalist approach. The two directions are assumed by most to be mutually exclusive and in competition. As a result, practitioners of each approach have been working in relative isolation from those of the opposite trend, with instances of cross-fertilization or even attempts at clarifying the critical issues few and far between. Divisiveness within a field of inquiry is counterproductive; if the rift is underlain by differences whose nature has not been fully enunciated and examined, it is doubly so. The proposed conference on functionalism and formalism in linguistics directly addresses this aspect of the current state of the field by adopting two central goals. One is to lay out a small set of basic parameters in terms of which the basic assumptions of each approach can be explicated and contrasted. The clarification of the similarities and differences between the two approaches provides the grounds for addressing our second objective: to assess the extent to which the two approaches are compatible and to explore ways in which insights of one approach may benefit the other. Given that the formalism-functionalism dichotomy is a meaningful one in other areas of humanities and social sciences as well, the results of the conference may contribute to the rapprochement of the two directions both inside and outside linguistics.