ABSTRACT
This paper is primarily concerned with substantive issues arising out of the study of natural language. Whatever methodological import it may carry is suggested only obliquely. For the purpose of this volume, however, it may be both helpful and necessary to outline the methodological context within which it may be viewed. There are three elements that bind a scientific discipline together:
A common body of data;
A common body of methodology for sifting the data;
A common body of theoretical goals via which the sifted data find its explanation or meaning.
