Blurb:

Chapter 7 offers a solution to the problem of the disjunction between theory and description, which is to reconstrue theory and its role in description. Such solution construes linguistic theory as a semiotic resource to meet the unprecedented demands and technological possibilities for the new production of linguistic descriptions in the transition to the 21st century. After revealing how the complementary goals of theory and description have become polarized for some influential linguists and showing how some do not hold the notion of theory-neutral descriptions, this chapter further uses case marking systems as an example to indicate that theory is a resource for enriching description.