Beyond Science

They do not, however, always testify as classically ‘scientific’ expert witnesses. Linguistics, as a branch of the humanities, rarely generates ‘falsifiable’ hypotheses which can be tested empirically—although such hypotheses, and experiments, of course exist within linguistics. More often, however, linguists testify based on their experience and understanding, in a context well-defined by Judge Learned Hand, who spoke of ‘general truths derived from … specialised experience’ (Hand, 1901, p. 54).