"Linguistics, a core part of early cognitive science, has increasingly seemed to be the odd discipline out, as its partner fields have become less abstract and theory-led. In this deeply original book, Ryan M. Nefdt brings linguistics back into the party. He doesn’t propose to demote the place of theory. Instead, he shows how linguists can remain proud of their formal rigour, by becoming clearer about the empirical objects they’re studying.”

“Ryan M. Nefdt’s book, Language, Science, and Structure: A Journey into the Philosophy of Linguistics, will change the philosophy of linguistics forever, anchoring it squarely in the

philosophy of science. In this rich, tightly argued, and beautifully written book, Nefdt illuminates a wealth of difficult questions about language and defends a realist, structuralist approach to linguistics—an approach that no philosopher of linguistics will be entitled to ignore.”

“This is how philosophy of linguistics should be done: a posteriori philosophy of science by a scholar fully conversant with theory and practice in the relevant disciplines, firmly rooted in naturalism, ontological realism, and structural realist philosophy of mathematics. A major advance, important for theoretical linguists as well as philosophers.”