Whether truth is absolute or relative has been a widely discussed topic for over two thousand years in epistemology and the philosophy of science. However, this issue has not yet been discussed systematically with respect to linguistics. The present paper attempts to make the first step toward filling this gap. It raises the following question in Sect. 1: What kind of relationship is there between the pluralism of inquiry, the relativistic and the absolutistic approach to truth, and the tolerance of views differing from one’s own in the practice of linguistic research? After Sect. 2 has clarified what is meant by ‘relativism’, ‘absolutism’, ‘pluralism’ and ‘tolerance’, Sects. 3–5 describe, analyse, and systematize the ways in which relativistic and absolutistic views are manifested in linguistic theorizing. Finally, Sect. 6 summarizes the findings and gives a sophisticated answer to the main question of the paper.

真理是绝对的还是相对的，两千多年来一直是认识论和科学哲学界广泛讨论的话题。然而，这个问题在语言学方面还没有得到系统的讨论。本文试图迈出填补这一空白的第一步。它在 Sect. 中提出了以下问题。1：在语言研究实践中，探究的多元性、真理的相对论和绝对论与对不同观点的容忍之间有什么样的关系？宗派之后。2 阐明了“相对主义”、“绝对主义”、“多元主义”和“宽容”的含义，教派。第 3-5 节描述、分析和系统化了相对论和绝对论观点在语言学理论化中的表现方式。最后，教派。