Typology Flashcards
The Counting Problem
→ There are over 7,000 different languages
there is no exact number because:
1) Language Death
2) Dialect vs Language
Dialects
= Mutually intelligible forms of a language that differ in systematic ways (e.g., house: /haʊs/ vs. /aʊs/; a sweet drink with bubbles: ‘soda’ vs. ‘pop’)
- -> Phonological
- -> Lexical
- -> Syntactic (Pronouns)
Dialect vs Language
Linguistic considerations:
Serbian and Croatian are mutually intelligible varieties of speech.
–> different dialects of the same language
Socio-political considerations:
Serbian and Croatian are spoken in two now-independent countries.
–> different languages
Types of Classification
1) Genetic classification
2) Areal classification
3) Typological classification
1) Genetic classification
= Classification of languages according to their degree of diachronic relatedness (→ ancestor language)
E.g.: The Indo-European family > Germanic > West Germanic languages: English, German, Dutch, Frisian, Afrikaans, Yiddish
2) Areal classification
= Classification of languages according to structural features shared across language boundaries within a geographical area (→ geographical proximity)
E.g.: ‘Balkan Sprachbund’: All languages spoken in the region of the Balkan
Areal classification may not overlap perfectly with genetic classification.
3) Typological classification
= Classification of languages according to their structural characteristics in phonology, morphology and syntax (→ grammatical characteristics)
3.1) Phonology
1) Vowel systems
2) Consonant systems
3) Suprasegmental systems
4) Syllable structure
1) Vowel systems
= Languages can be classified according to the size and pattern of their vowel systems.
Most common vowel system:
- Two unrounded front vowels
- One unrounded low vowel
- Two rounded back vowels
English Vowels: 12 vowels, 8 diphthongs
2) Consonant systems
Languages can be classified according to the characteristics of their consonants.
E.g Markedness Differential Hypothesis:
Unmarked characteristics are considered to be universally more common and/or less complex than marked characteristics.
x > y
x is less marked than y
Plosives > Fricatives > Affricates
Language universals:
- There are no languages that lack plosive phonemes.
- If a language has fricative phonemes, then it will also have plosives.
- Languages that have affricates will also have fricatives and plosives.
3) Suprasegmental systems
Tone languages can be classified on the basis of two types of tones: Level tones (high, mid and low tones) and contour tones (rising and falling tones).
Language universals:
- If a language has complex contour tones (i.e., rising-falling, or fallingrising), then it will also have simple contour tones (i.e., rising or falling).
- If a language has contour tones, then it will also have level tones.
4) Syllable structureMOrp
Languages can be classified according to how onsets and codes are structured (e.g., consonant clusters in codas and onsets).
Language universals:
- If a language permits sequences of consonants in the onset, then it will
also permit single-consonant onsets and syllables with no onset at all.
- If a language permits sequences of consonants in the coda, then it will
also permit single-consonant codas and syllables with no coda at all.
3.2) Morphology
1) Isolating languages
2) Polysynthetic languages
3) Agglutinating languages
4) Inflectional/Fusional languages
1) Isolating languages
These languages are made up of sequences of free
morphemes. Every meaningful element in the sentence is a separate word.
E.g.:
Thai → Khaw ca haj dek kin khaaw.
he FUTURE give child eat rice
Synthetic languages
→ Affixes are attached to free morphemes so that a word can be made up of several meaningful elements.
2) Polysynthetic languages
Single words can consist of several roots and affixes that often express sentential meanings.
- Lexical morphemes are incorporated in these languages.
- Multimorphemic words can be complete sentences.
E.g.:
Koryak (in Siberia) → g- as:hIn tIII -lin -au
PAST TENSE shore walk around 3rd person subject PLURAL
3) Agglutinating languages
Words can consist of several morphemes (normally a
root and affixes), each of which typically has a single, clearly identifiable function.
E.g.: Turkish → cep -ler -imiz -de -ki -ler -in
pocket PLURAL POSSESSIVE LOCATIVE RELATIVIZER PLURAL GENITIVE
→ Morphological Ideal: One morpheme - one meaning
Derivations of Morphological Ideal
1) Cumulation
2) Syncretism
1) Cumulation
= When a single affix expresses more than one property within a word, the affix cumulates those properties
2) Syncretism
= A single word form corresponds to two grammatical words
4) Inflectional/Fusional languages
Words can consist of several morphemes (normally a root and affixes). Affixes often mark several grammatical categories simultaneously.
E.g.: English → walk -s
PRESENT TENSE + 3rd person singular
3.3) Syntax
1) Word Order
2) Grammatical hierarchies
1) Word Order
Languages can be classified on the basis of the relative order of the subject (S), direct object (O) and verb (V).
→ 6 major word order patterns: SOV (e.g., Turkish) SVO (e.g., English) VSO (e.g., Welsh) VOS OVS OSV
Word Order Universals
- OV word order languages will probably have postpositions rather than
prepositions. - VO word order languages will have prepositions rather than postpositions.
- PPs always precede the verb in OV languages, and usually follow the verb
in VO languages. - Manner adverbs overwhelmingly precede the verb in OV languages and
generally follow the verb in VO languages.
2) Grammatical hierarchies
Languages can be classified according to the grammatical relations of subject and direct object.
→ Markedness Differential Hypothesis: Unmarked characteristics are considered to be less complex and/or universally more common than marked characteristics.
E.g.: Subjects are less marked than direct objects (subject > direct object).
Language Universals
= Structural characteristics that occur in all or most languages
Typologists identify four different types of language universal:
1) Non-implicational absolute universals
2) Non-implicational tendencies
3) Implicational absolute universals
4) Implicational tendencies
1) Non-implicational absolute universals
= Structural characteristics shared by each
and every language without exception
E.g.: All languages distinguish between three grammatical units: Word, phrase and clause.
2) Non-implicational tendencies
= Structural characteristics shared by most languages
E.g.: The most commonly occurring vowel phoneme is /a/.
3) Implicational absolute universals
= A logical relation of implication between two characteristics that is found in every language
E.g.: If a language has inflectional affixes, it will also have derivational affixes.
4) Implicational tendencies
= A logical connection between two characteristics that is found in most languages
E.g.: Manner adverbs overwhelmingly precede the verb in OV languages and generally follow the verb in VO languages.
Explaining Language Universals: Some Ideas
- Phonological universals may relate to perceptual and articulatory factors.
- Morphological universals may result from language change over time or from the
distinction between derivation and inflection. - Syntactic universals may be attributed to the type of branching patterns
