What counts as evidence for universals?

Abstract: My talk is about Generative theories of the phonological module (PhM). I will identify some core requirements that such theories impose on evidence for the PhM, then discuss several cases where these evidential requirements are not met. I will then argue that these cases are fairly representative of work in phonological theory, with the consequence that an unknown (but presumably large) number of claims about PhM universals have an uncertain status.

Some optional background reading:

de Lacy, Paul (2009). Phonological evidence. In Steve Parker (ed.) Phonological argumentation: Essays on evidence and motivation. Equinox Publications, pp. 43-78. See http://www.pauldelacy.net/webpage/publications.html

de Lacy, Paul (to appear). Evaluating evidence for stress systems. In Harry van der Hulst (ed.) Word stress: Theoretical and typological issues, Cambridge University Press, chapter 4. See http://www.pauldelacy.net/webpage/publications.html