"Fact-finding, not theorising, is what is wanted at this present juncture."

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Mark Dingemanse recently brought this quote to our attention at his blog, the Ideophone

 There is an urgent need for the comparative study, over as much of the world as possible, of the full range of paralinguistic phenomena — the kind of thing for which the linguistic field-worker is best fitted. Fact-finding, not theorising, is what is wanted at this present juncture. 

Abercrombie, David. 1968. “Paralanguage.” International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 3 (1): 55–59. doi:10.3109/13682826809011441 http://ideophone.org/abercrombie-on-paralanguage/

Excellent, couldn't agree more.

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