Lecture 7, Language Universals and language typology

Question 1

Semantic Universals:

Answer 1

These refer to meanings that are universally present across languages, such as basic concepts like colors (black, white), body parts (eye, hand), and kinship terms (mother, father).
Example: Almost every language has words for ‘sun’ and ‘moon’.

Question 2

Phonological Universals:

Answer 2

These relate to universal patterns in the sounds of languages. For example, all languages have vowels, and certain sounds like /m/ and /n/ are common. Example: Most languages have nasal sounds like /m/.

Question 3

Morphological Universals:

Answer 3

These concern the ways in which words are formed and modified. Many languages have plural forms, tense markers, etc. Example: Languages often have ways to indicate plurality or tense (e.g., adding -s for plurals in English).

Question 4

Syntactic Universals:

Answer 4

These involve the structure of sentences across languages. Most languages follow some basic word order rules like Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), etc. Example: Most languages have a way of marking questions, usually by word order or tone.

Question 5

Absolute Universals:

Answer 5

These are properties that are true of all languages.
Example: All languages have pronouns or ways to refer to people without naming them (I, you, he, she, etc.).

Question 6

Universal Tendencies:

Answer 6

These are features that most languages have, but there may be exceptions.
Example: Most languages have nasal sounds (like ‘m’ or ‘n’), but some don’t.

Question 7

Implicational Universals:

Answer 7

These are patterns where the presence of one feature implies the presence of another.
Example: If a language has voiced stops like /b/, it also has voiceless stops like /p/.

Question 8

Original Language Hypothesis:

Answer 8

This hypothesis speculates that all human languages may have originated from a single proto-language, though there is little direct evidence to support it.

Question 9

Universal Grammar Hypothesis (Noam Chomsky):

Answer 9

This is the idea that all humans are born with an inherent understanding of the structure of language, which is why we can easily learn any language as children.

Question 10

Cognitive and Social Hypotheses:

Answer 10

These theories suggest that language universals arise from shared cognitive structures of the human brain or common social interactions across cultures.

Question 11

Genealogical Classifications:

Answer 11

Languages are classified based on their historical origin and development.
Example: Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian) all descend from Latin.

Question 12

Typological Classifications:

Answer 12

This is the classification of languages based on structural similarities rather than historical relationships.
Example: SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) languages like English, Chinese, and Swahili are grouped together based on their sentence structure.

Question 13

SVO, SOV, VSO Languages:

Answer 13

These terms refer to the basic word order of languages.
Examples:

SVO: English (“I eat pizza”), French, Chinese.
SOV: Japanese (“I pizza eat”), Korean, Turkish.
VSO: Arabic (“Eat I pizza”), Welsh, Irish.

Question 14

OSV, OVS, VOS Languages: These are less common word orders.
Example:

Answer 14

OSV: Rare, used in some Amazonian languages like Hixkaryana.
OVS: Rare, found in languages like Malagasy.
VOS: Found in languages like Fijian or Malagasy.

Question 15

Post-positions/Prepositions:

Answer 15

Prepositions (before the noun): “on the table” (English)
Post-positions (after the noun): “the table on” (Japanese: テーブルの上に)

Question 16

Head-first / Head-last Languages:

Answer 16

Head-first languages (e.g., English) place the “head” of the phrase (the main word) before its modifiers.
Example: “The house (head) on the hill (modifier).”

Head-last languages (e.g., Japanese) place the “head” at the end.
Example: “Hill on the house.”

Question 17

Morphological Typologies:
Analytic/Isolating:

Answer 17

Languages with little or no inflection. Each word tends to be a separate unit of meaning. Example: Chinese.

Question 18

Synthetic:

Answer 18

Languages with more inflection, where words are formed by combining different morphemes (small units of meaning). Example: Spanish (hablo, hablas, hablamos).

Question 19

Agglutinating:

Answer 19

A type of synthetic language where morphemes are clearly distinct and attached to a base word.
Example: Turkish (ev=house, evler=houses, evlerim=my houses).

Question 20

Fusional:

Answer 20

Another type of synthetic language where morphemes are fused together, often with multiple meanings in one morpheme. Example: Spanish (hablo = I speak, hablábamos = we were speaking).

Question 21

Polysynthetic:

Answer 21

These languages combine several morphemes, creating complex words that may convey what in English would be a full sentence.
Example: Inuktitut.

Question 22

Contrastive Linguistics:

Answer 22

This is the study of differences and similarities between two or more languages. It is particularly useful in language teaching, as it helps identify areas where learners might struggle due to differences between their native language and the language they are learning.