Course Linguistic Typology and Language Univ

7/30/2019 Course Linguistic Typology and Language Univ

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Linguistic typology and language

universalsCourse script PART I - Holger Diessel

Languages of the world


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Number of speakers

Mandarin 907

English 456

Hindi 383

Spanish 362Russian 293

Arabic 208

Bengali 189

Portuguese 177

Indonesian 148

Japanese 126French 123

German 119 (Whaley 1997:139

Language sampling

Table 1. Percentage of basic constituent orders

Order Greenberg (1966) Tomlin (1986)

SVOSOV

VSO

VOS

OVS

OSV

43%37%

20%

0%

0%

0%

42%45%

9%

3%

1%

0%

Convenient language sample

Proportional language sample.


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Types of universals

1. Absolute universals vs. statistical universals

a. All languages have vowels and consonants.

b. Most languages place the subject before the object.

2. Implicational universals

(1) Peter saw himself (in the mirror).

(2) Peter saw him (in the mirror).

If a language has reflexive pronouns for first and second person,it also has reflexive pronouns for third person.

Table 2. The crosslinguistic distribution of reflexives

all persons 3. only person

reflexive x x

non-reflexive x

There are languages that have reflexive pronouns for all persons.

There are languages that do not have reflexive pronouns at all.

There are languages that employ reflexive pronouns only for 3. person.

There is no language that employs reflexive pronouns except for 3. person.

English me myself

you yourself

him/her/it himself/herself/itself

German mich mich

dich dich

ihm/ihr/es sich

Old English m m hine/hi/hit hine/hi/hit


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3. Universal hierarchies

a. SUBJ > OBJ > OBL > GEN

b. white/black > red > green/yellow > blue > brown

4. Semantic maps

(1) I saw somebody/*anybody. specific unknown

(2) Did you see somebody/anybody. question

(3) I didnt see *somebody/anybody. indirect negation

(4) *Somebody/anybody can win. free choice

specific

known

Specific

unknown

irrealis

non-specific

questions indirect

negation

direct

negation

conditional comparative free choice

KA

-DEMO

specific

known

specific

unknown

irrealis

non-specific

questions indirect

negation

direct

negation

conditional comparative free choice

English

some

no

an -

-MO

Japanese


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Explaining linguistic universals

1. Innateness

The argument from the poverty of the stimulus (Chomsky)

2. Discourse

(1) The police officer saw the womani. He probably knew heribut

(2) The police officer saw heri. He probably knew the womanibut

3. Sentence processing

(1) The man who Peter who was tired saw was sick.

4. Economy

(1) lexical word > grammatical word > affix > zero

5. Iconicity(1) a. We went home before Mary left.

b. Before Mary left we went home.

(2) a. We went home after Mary left.

b. After Mary left we went home.

Competing motivations

Iconic Non-iconic

MAIN-SUB

SUB-MAIN

x, before y

after x, y

y, after x

before y, x


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Grammatical categories

Parts-of-speech (lexical categories)

Nouns (N)

Verbs (V)

Adjectives (ADJ)

Adverbs (ADV)

Pronouns (PRO)

Determiner (DET)

Preposition (P)

Conjunction (COMP)

Auxiliaries (AUX)

Grammatical relations

Subject

Direct object

Indirect object

Adverbials

Thematic roles

Agent

Patent Theme

Experiencer

Beneficary

Instrument

Location

Recipient

Phrasal categories

Noun phrases (NP) Verb phrase (VP)

Prepositional phrase (PP)

Clause/sentence (S)

Headcomplementadjunct

Head

Complement

Adjunct


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Morphological categories of the noun

Lindsay J. Whaley. 1997. Introduction to Linguistic Typology.The Unity and Diversity of Language, chap 4. Thousands Oaks:

Sage Publications

Number

Tmpisa Shoshone (Uto-Aztecan)

(1) kapaayu-

horse-SG

the/a horse

(2) kapaayu-angku

horse-DU

(two) horses

(3) kapaayu-amm

horse-PL

(more than two) horses

Hawaiian (Austronesian)

(1) elau al mau ia

two may PL fish

my two fish

Case

Luiseno (Uto-Aztecan)

(1) ?wut kasila-y toow-q

eagle lizard-OBJ see-SG

The eagle sees the lizard.


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Mojave (Yuman)

(1) hatq- po taver-m

dog-SUBJ cat chase-PRS/PST

The dog chased the cat.

Latin (IE) suffixes

(1) equ-us reg-em vd

Horse-NOM king-ACC see.PERF.3SG

The horse saw the king.

Japanese words

(1) John ga Mary o but-ta

John SUBJ Mary OBJ hit-PST

John hit Mary.

English clitics

(1) I saw the Queens crown.

(2) I saw the Queen of Englands crown.

Kanuri (Nilotic) clitics

(1) km-ga rskena

man-OBJ I.saw

I saw the man.

(2) [km kr]-ga rskena

man big-OBJ I.saw

I saw the big man.

(3) [ft [km kr]ve]-ga rskena

Compound man big-GEN-OBJ I.saw

I saw the big mans compound.


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Direct and indirect object

Latin (IE)(1) puell-ae pecni-am da-t

girl-DAT money-ACC give-3S

He gives money to the girl.

Locative case markers

allative motion to

illative absence of motion

ablative motion away from

Quechua

(1) Utavalu-li kawasa-ni

Otavalo-in live-1

I live in Otavalo.

(2) Utavalo-mando shamu-ni

Otavalo-from come-1

I come from Otavalo.

(3) wasi ladu-pi

house near-at

near the house

Instrumental case

Yareba (Papua New Guinea)

(1) dana boro auri-ma yanai

he pig spear-INST spear.3SHe killed the pig with a spear.


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Genitive case

(1) Jenas mayor

(2) The mayor of Jena

Possessive affixes

Masalit (Nilotic)

(1) leri-mbe

donkey-1SG

my donkey

(2) leri-na

donkey-2SG

your donkey

(3) leri-ta

donkey-3SG

his/her donkey

Table 1. Alienable and inalienable possession in Cree

Alienable possession Inalienable possession

+possessor -possessor +possessor -possessor

ni-mhkomn

1SG-knifemy knife

mhkomn

knifea knife

ni-sksik

1SG-eyemy eye

mi-sksik (*sksik)

non.POSS-eyean eye

Gender / Noun Class

(1) Der Mann

(2) Die Frau

(3) Das Mdchen


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Dyirbal (Pama-Nyungan)

(1) a. bayi yara b. bayi yamani

MASC man MASC rainbow

the/a man the/a rainbow

(2) balan dugumbil

FEM woman

the/a woman

(3) balam miran

PLANT black.bean

black bean

(4) bala dawun

INAN dilly bag

the/a dilly bag

Mandarin (Sinitic)(1) sn-ge rn

Three-CLASS person

three people

(2) zhi-zhn dng

This-CLASS lamp

this lamp

(3) zhi-ge yzi

This-CLASS chair

this chair

(4) ni-tio ni

That-CLASS cow

that cow


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Definiteness

Swedish

(1) hus-ethouse-DEF

the house

(2) hus-en

house-INDEF

a house

The noun phrase

NP

N

PP

N NP

N N

DET ADJ N N P DET A N

The young mans dream of a good life

Wardaman (Pama-Nyungan)

(1) dang-nyi wunggun-bu-ndi yibiyan-yi

Yonder-ERG 3SG:3NON.SG-hit-PST man-ERG

That man hit them.

Das geistig Zusammengehrende steht beieinander. [Behagel 1923-32]


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Pronouns

Personal pronouns

1. person 2. person 3. person

I

me

you

you

he

him

she

her

it

it

we you they

(1) The man saw the woman. He/shesaw him/her.

Finnish (Uralic)

(1) laul-an I sing

laula-t You sing

laula-vi He sings

laula-mme We wing

laula-tte You sing

laula-vat They sing

Swahili (Niger-Congo)

(1) a-li-ni-piga

3SG.SUBJ-PST-1SG.OBJ-hit

He/she hit me.

(2) u-ta-ni-penda You will like me

a-ta-ni-penda He will like me

a-ta-ku-penda He will like you

a-ta-m-penda He will like him


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a-ta-ku-penda I will like you

a-ta-m-penda I will like him

u-ta-m-penda You will like him

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns Possessive determiners

my

your

his

her

its

mine

yours

his

hers

its

Relative pronouns

(1) The man who(m) I saw.

(2) The bike that I bought.

Indefinite pronouns

Universal Pronoun Determiner everyone

everybody

everything

every/each

all all

Positive

both both

no one

nobody

nothing

Negative

none

none/no


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Partitive Pronoun Determiner

someone

somebody

something

Assertive

some

some

anyone

anybody

anything

Nonassertive

none

any/either

Interrogative pronouns

(1) What did you talk about __ in class?

Mandarin (Sinitic)

(1) w qng shi ch fan

I invite whom eat food

Whom did I invite to eat.

Demonstrative pronouns

English Japanese

Proximal Distal Near S Near H Distant

this that sono kono ano


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The relationship between demonstratives and interrogatives

Diessel, Holger. 2003. The relationship between demonstratives and

interrogatives. Studies in Language.

Demonstrative Interrogative

Pronouns Pronouns

Third Person PRO Relative PRO Indefinite PRO

Possessive PRO

(1) der da(2) celui-ci/l

(3) denhr/dendr

Syntactic properties

Table 1. English

DEMONSTRATIVE INTERROGATIVE

PRONOUN this / that who, what

NOUN MODIFIER this / that which

ADVERB here / there where, when, why, how


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Table 2. French

DEMONSTRATIVE INTERROGATIVE

PRONOUN celui / celle qui / que

NOUN MODIFIER ce / cette quel / quelle

ADVERB ice, l o, quand, pourquoi, comment

Semantic features

Table 3. DEM and WH in English

Demonstratives Interrogatives

Person that (one) who

Thing that (one) what

Place there where

Direction:to thither whither

Direction:from thence whence

Time then when

Manner thus (that way) how

Table 4. DEM and WH in Punjabi (Bhatia 1993: 233)


Person kauN

Thing kii

Place tthe ktthe

Direction ddar kddar

Time huN kad

Manner v kv Amount nnaa knnaa


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Table 5. DEM and WH in Lezgian (Haspelmath 1993: 188)


Person/Thing im him / wuz&

Place inag hinag

Place:at ina hina

Place:on inal hinal

Place:in inra hinra

Direction:to iniz hiniz

Direction:from inaj hinaj

Manner ik hik(a)

Amount iqwan hiqwan

Quality ixfltin hixfltin

Table 6. DEM and WH in Japanese (Hinds 1986: 266, 270)


Person dare

Thing kore dore

Place koko doko

Direction kochira dochira

Manner koo doo

Amount konna ni donna ni


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Table 7. DEM and WH in Malayalam (Asher and Kumari 1997:268)


Person ii evan / aar

Thing ii ent

Place iviTe eviTe

Direction:to inn enn

Time ippoo eppoo

Manner iine eine

Amount itra etra

Interrogatives tend to distinguish between human (who) and nonhuman

(what) referents.

Demonstratives are deictic, i.e. they distinguish between proximal and

distal forms.

Phonetic features

Demonstratives and interrogatives share two phonetic features:

In some languages, they all begin with the same formative

They are generally stressed.

Explanation

The semantic similarities between demonstratives and interrogatives are

motivated by similar pragmatic functions. Both types of expressions are

directives. They function to draw the hearers attention on entities that previously

were not activated or in focus.


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Verbal categories

Lindsay J. Whaley. 1997. Introduction to Linguistic Typology. The Unity and

Diversity of Language, chap 4. Thousands Oaks: Sage Publications

Morphological categories of the verb

Verb classes:

1. intransitive verbs

2. transitive verbs

3. ditransitive verbs

Inflectional categories:

1. tense

2. aspect

3. mood

Tense

Absolute tense

Peter is working Present

Peter was working Past

Peter has been working Present Perfect

Peter will be working Future 1

Relative tense

Peter had been working (before he went to bed) Past Perfect

Peter will have finished work (when you come) Future 2


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1. Tense affixes

Latin (IE)

voc- I call / I am calling PRESENT

voc-bam I was calling / I used to call PAST

voc-b I will call FUTURE

voc-vi I called / I have called PERFECT

voc-veram I had called PAST PERFECT

voc-ver I will have called FUTURE PERFECT

2. Tense auxiliaries

I will go

You will go

He will go

Aspect

(1) I have gotten a letter from Sue. Present perfect

(2) I was working. Progressive

Perfective

Imperfective


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Aktionsart / lexical aspect

[-dynamic] [+dynamic]

states

[-telic] [+te ic]

[-durative] [+durative] [-durative]

[+durative]

semelfactives activities achievements accomplishments

(1) She hated ice cream. (State)

(2) The gate banged. (Semelfactive)

(3) Your cat watched those birds. (Activity)

(4) The cease-fire began at noon yesterday. (Achievement)

(5) Her boss learned Japanese. (Accomplishment)

Mood

Subjunctive

German

(1) Er kommt zur Party.

(2) Er sagt er komme (kme) zur Party.

(3) Wenn er zur Party kme,


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English

(1) I insist that we reconsider the Councils decision.

(2) The employees demand that he resign.

(3) I suggest that you be President.

(4) If she were leaving you would have heard about it.

(5) I wish I were you.

(1) Peter must go. deontic

(2) That must be right. epistemic

Imperative

(1) Give me the key.

(2) Gib mir den Schlssel.

(3) Geben Sie mir den Schlssel.

Hortative

(1) Lets go to the movies.

Interrogative

Japanese has interrogative mood expressed by sentence particles.

Japanese

(1) Kore wa hon desu yo

This TOP book is DECL

CThis is a book.

(2) Kore wa hon desu ka

This TOP book is Q

Is this a book?


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Other categories of the verb

Swahili (Niger-Congo) PERSON

(1) a-li-ni-piga

3SG.SUBJ-PST-1SG.OBJ-hit

He/she hit me.

English (IE) PASSIVE

(1) Peter kicked the ball.

(2) The ball was kicked (by Peter).

Turkish (Turkic) CAUSATIVE

(1) Hasan l-d.

Hasan die-PST

Hasan died.

(2) Ali Hasan l-dr-d.

Ali Hsan die-CAUSE-PST

Ali killed Hasan.

Maasai (Nilo-Saharan) NEGATION

(1) m-a-rany

NEG-1S-sing

I do not sing.

German (IE) DIRECTION

(1) hin-/her-bringen

hin-/her-stellen

hin-/her-laufen

hin-/her-legen

hin-/her-schwimmen


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Morphological typology


Diversity of Language, chap 8. Thousands Oaks: Sage Publications

Index of Synthesis

Isolating Synthetic

Languages with no bound morphemes are called isolating languages. Strictly

speaking, there are no languages that do not have at least some bound

morphemes. However, some languages have very little bound morphology.

(1) Vietnamese (Comrie 1981: 43)

Khi ti n nha ban ti,

When I come house friend I

When I came to my friends house,

chng ti bt u lm bi.

PL I begin do lessen

we began to do lessons.

Languages with a large amount of inflectional morphology are called

synthetic languages.


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(2) Kirundi (Whaley 1997:20)

Y-a-bi-gur-i-ye abna

CL1-PST-CL8.them-buy-APPL-ASP CL2.children

He bought them for the children.

(3) Mohawk (Mithun 1984: 868)

a. r-ukwet-:yo

he-person-nice

He is a nice person.

b. wa-hi-sereth-hare-se

PST-he/me-car-wash-for

He car-wash for me. (= He washed my car)

c. kvtsyu v-kuwa-nyat-:ase

fish FUT-they/her-throat-slit

They will throat-slit a fish.

Languages with noun-incorporation are also called polysynthetic languages.

Index of fusion

Agglutinative Fusional

Languages in which semantic features are expressed by separate and

clearly identifiable morphemes are called agglutinative languages.


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(1) Turkish (Comrie 1981: 44)

SG PL

Nominative adam adam-lar

Accusative adam-K adam-lar- K

Genitive adam-Kn adam-lar- Kn

Dative adam-a adam-lar-a

Locative adam-da adam-lar-da

Ablative adam-dan adam-lar-dan

Languages in which several semantic features are expressed by a

portmanteau morpheme are called fusional languages. Portmanteau

morphemes must be memorized.

(2) Russian

SG PL SG PL

Nominative stol stol-y lip-a lip-y

Accusative stol stol-y lip-u lip-y

Genitive stol-a stol-ov lip-y lip

Dative stol-u stol-am lip-e lip-am

Instrumental stol-om stol-ami lip-oj lip-ami

Prepositional stol-e stol-ax lip-e lip-ax

Table 1. Hypothetical language

TENSE VOICE PERS NUM

PST

PRS

FUT

pa

pi

po

ACT

PAS

MID

no

mo

o

1st

2nd

3rd

ku

ko

ka

SG

DU

PL

sa

si

so


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(1) sleep-pa-no-ku-sa

V-PST-ACT-1-SG

I slept

(2) sleep-pi-no-ka-so

V-PRS-ACT-3-PL

We are sleeping

Table 1. Oneida verbal inflection

Change of morphological language types

a. from isolating to agglutinating

(1) Melanesian Pidgin (Whaley 1997: 136)

aus blo mi > aus blo-mi

house belong me house of-me / my

(2) how ever > however

by cause > because

Prepronominal Pronominal Stem Suffixes

NegationDirectionIterative

Partative

II:you.SGI:you.DU

I:you.PL

I:he

you.SG:me

you.DU:me

you.PL:me

Verb Aspect


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going to > gonna

there fore > therefore

in deed > indeed

N meaning body-like > -ly

any body > anybody

in front of > in.front.of

b. from agglutinative to fusional

(1) Paamese (Whaley 1997: 137)

a. *na-i-lesi- > ni-lesi-

I-FUT-see-it I.FUT-see-it

b. *ko-i-lesi-nau > ki-lesi-nau

you-FUT-see-me you.FUT-see-me

c. from fusional to isolating

Table 1. Nominal declension in Old English

SG PL

NOM stan stan-as

GEN stan-es stan-a

DAT stan-e stan-umACC stan stan-as

Table 2. Nominal declension in Modern English

SG PL

NOM stone ston-es

GEN stones ston-es


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fusional

isolating agglutinative

We dont have any evidence of any language that went through the entire

circle, but we have abundant evidence for partial developments.

Languages can be isolating in one domain and highly fusional in another

domain (e.g. Oneida nouns and verbs). Thus, it is better to think about the

different morphological types as characterizations of grammar sections

rather than as characterizations of whole languages.

Reduction

FusionLoss


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Head-marking vs. dependent-marking


Diversity of Language, chap 8.2.2. Thousands Oaks: Sage Publications

Possessive constructions

(1) English dependent-marking

The mans house

(2) Hungarian (Comrie 1989: 53) head-marking

az ember hz-a

the man house-his

The mans house

(3) Turkish (Comrie 1989: 53) double-marking

Adam-Kn ev-i

Man-POSS house-his

the mans house

(4) Haruai (Comrie 1989: 1989: 53) no marking

nb ram

man house

the mans house

Table 1. Johanna Nichols (1986) Head-dependent pairs

Level Head Dependent

Phrase

Clause

Possessed noun

Noun

Adposition

PredicateAuxiliary

Possessor

Adjective

NP

Arguments + AdjunctsVerb


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Clauses

(1) Chechen (Dryer Workbook)

da:-s woa-na urs- t:xira dependent

father-ERG son-DAT knife-NOM struck

The father stabbed the son.

(2) Japanese

boku ga tomudati ni hana o t:xira dependent

I SUBJ friend to flowers OBJ gave

The man gave the woman the book.

(3) Abkhaz (Dryer workbook)

a-xc?a a-p@s a-Sq?@ -l@-y-te-yt? head

the-man the man the-book it-her-he-gave-FIN

The man gave the woman the book.

(4) Tzutujil (Dryer workbook) head

x--kee-tij tzyaq chooyaa?

ASP-3SG-3PL-ate clothes rats

Rats ate the clothes.

(5) Dani (Dryer workbook)

ap palu-nen -nasikh-e double

Man python-OBJ 3SG.OBJ-eat.PST-3SG-SUBJ

The python ate the man.

(6) English zero

The man gave Peter the book.


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Adpositional constructions

(1) German dependent

wegen des Wetters

mit dem Wind

gegen den Wind

(2) Russian (Dryer workbook) dependent

s brat-om

with brother-INST

with (the) brother)

(3) Abkhaz (Dryer workbook) head

a-j@yas a-qn@

the-river its-at

at the river

(4) Tzutujil (Dryer workbook) head

ruu-majk jar aachi

3SG-because.of the man

because of the man

(5) Turkish (Dryer workbook) double

Mehmed-in el-i

Mehmed-POSS hand-his

Mehmeds hand(6) Tiwi (Dryer workbook) zero

j@r@k@pai tuwaia

crocodile tail

crocodiles tail


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Generalizations across languages (Nichols 1986)

1. Head/dependent marking and level

If a language has head-marking morphology anywhere, it will have it at the

clause level.

2. Word order and head/dependent marking

Head-marking morphology favours verb-initial order, while dependent-

marking morphology disfavours it.

3. Occurrence of arguments and head/dependent marking

If a language has head-marking at the clause level, arguments can usually

be omitted.

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