heuristic (adj./n.)

An application in LINGUISTICS and PHONETICS of the general use of this term in cybernetics, referring to a specific mode of investigation adopted as part of a process of discovery or problem-solving. In linguistics, the notion has been introduced mainly in the discussion of PROCEDURES of analysis, where BLOOMFIELDIAN DISCOVERY procedures are contrasted with the FORMAL analyses of GENERATIVE GRAMMAR. The term is also used in the looser sense of a ‘working hypothesis’, used to suggest or eliminate a possible explanation of events. A notion such as DISCOURSE, for example, cannot easily be given a formal or operational definition, but it can be seen as a heuristic device (‘a heuristic’), and used as a pre-theoretical notion, thus enabling an investigation to proceed