On Taxonomies (in Linguistics and Ornithology)

Drawing on Candlin and Sarangi's call for Applied Linguistics to show ‘acquisitiveness’ in its encounters with other disciplines, this article reflects upon, and defends, the ubiquity and importance of taxonomies in both everyday life and academic enquiry, looking at two apparently disparate disciplines: (applied) linguistics and scientific ornithology. It notes some surprisingly similar issues and developments in the taxonomies of these two fields, and suggests that recent doubts about them, and challenges to them, may be part of an intellectual zeitgeist, eschewing neat boundaries in classification. It draws a distinction, however, between the development of taxonomies in the light of new knowledge and understanding, and a more general rejection of taxonomic thinking, arguing that the rational organisation of knowledge in taxonomic thinking is more important than ever in our troubled times of political and environmental instability.