ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to elaborate the mystery of the essence of a natural language: what is language, and what kinds of evidence can we apply in describing language(s). The first question is philosophical or ideological, the second methodological. The chapter starts by considering the dichotomous nature of language. It turns to the concrete question on linguistic research methodology by differentiating two approaches. First the chapter considers the issue in the framework of what we call language-oriented research. Then it launches an alternative approach, communication-oriented research, and examines methodology from that point of view. The chapter considers methods that can be applied in language-oriented research when a linguist tackles the questions: 'What is potential, correct, and acceptable in language?', on one hand, and 'What is typical and frequent in language usage?', on the other.
