Typology Flashcards
Linguistic Typology
a classification of languages according to their structural types
The index of Synthesis
This index defines a continuum from isolating languages at one extreme, to highly polysynthetic languages at the other
An isolating language
a strictly isolating language is one in which every word consists of one and only one morpheme.
English is a relatively isolating language, although not as isolating as Mandarin
The index of fusion
the degree to which units of meanings are ‘fused’ into single morphemes
A fusional language
In a highly fusional language, one morpheme can simultaneously express several meanings
An agglutinative language
languages in which most morphemes express only one meaning.
English is a relatively agglutinative language
For example in:
anti-dis-establish-ment-ari-an-ism
A morpheme
the smallest linguistic unit that can be used to express meaning
Examples of agglutinative forms in English
- She placed (place+ed) the call
- happier (happy+er)
- happiest (happy+est)
Examples of fusional forms in English
plural forms of some nouns: (mouse - mice), (man - men)
past forms of some irregular verbs: She ‘dug’ out her phone
A clause
- a clause is used to express a complete thought.
- a clause = NP (subject) + VP (predicating element).
subject NP
“the wicked old witch”
“this show”
predicating element VP
“eats chocolate”
“does nothing for me!”
two groups of languages: OV and VO
- other languages allow other orders, for example SOV, VSO, etc
- English is a SVO language
English as a VO language
- has prepositions which precede NPs : “under a tree”
- possessor noun follows the possessed noun: “The horn of the unicorn” (the reverse is also possible)
- a modifier precedes a noun in an NP: “an unexpected complication”
Lexical (semantic) typology
has to do with how meaning components are packaged into lexical words.
For example: verbs of motion (run, walk etc)
