Morphological typologyMorphological typology

Holger DiesselHolger DiesselUniversity of JenaUniversity of Jena

holger.diesselholger.diessel@uni-jena.de@uni-jena.dehttp://www.holger-diessel.de/http://www.holger-diessel.de/

Morphological parametersMorphological parameters

Index of synthesis

Index of fusion

Index of synthesisIndex of synthesis

isolating synthetic

Vietnamese English Russian Oneida

Isolating languageIsolating language

(1) Vietnamese (Comrie 1981: 43)

Khi tôi ðèn nha ban tôi,When I come house friend I

‘When I came to my friend’s house,

chùng tôi bǎt ðâu làmbài.

PL I begin dolessen

‘we began to do lessons.’

Synthetic languageSynthetic language

(2) Kirundi (Whaley 1997:20)

Y-a-bi-gur-i-ye abânaCL1-PST-CL8.them-buy-APPL-ASP

CL2.children

‘He bought them for the children.’

Polysynthetic languagePolysynthetic language

(3) Mohawk (Mithun 1984: 868)

a. r-ukwe’t-í:yohe-person-nice‘He is a nice person.’

b. wa-hi-‘sereth-óhare-‘se PST-he/me-car-wash-for

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

c. kvtsyu v-kuwa-nya’t-ó:’asefish FUT-they/her-throat-slit‘They will throat-slit a fish.’

Noun-incorporation (cf. fox-hunting, bird-watching)

Index of fusionIndex of fusion

agglutinative fusional

Swahili Russian Oneida

Agglutinative languageAgglutinative language

(1) Turkish (Comrie 1981: 44)

SG PL

Nominative adam adam-larAccusative adam-K adam-lar-KGenitive adam-Kn adam-lar-KnDative adam-a adam-lar-aLocative adam-da adam-lar-daAblative adam-dan adam-lar-dan

Fusional languageFusional language

(2) Russian

SG PL

Nominative stol stol-yAccusative stol stol-yGenitive stol-a stol-ovDative stol-u stol-amInstrumental stol-om stol-amiPrepositional stol-e stol-ax

SG PL

lip-a lip-ylip-u lip-ylip-y liplip-e lip-amlip-oj lip-amilip-e lip-ax

Hypothetical languageHypothetical language

TENSE VOICE PERS NUM

PST

PRS

FUT

pa

pi

po

ACT

PAS

MID

no

mo

Îo

1st

2nd

3rd

ku

ko

ka

SG

DU

PL

sa

si

so

(1) sleep-pa-no-ku-sa (2) sleep-pi-no-ka-so

V-PST-ACT-1-SG‘I slept’

V-PRS-ACT-3-PL‘They are sleeping’

Polysynthetic languagePolysynthetic language

Prepronominal Pronominal Stem Suffixes

NegationDirectionIterativePartative

II:you.SGI:you.DUI:you.PLI:he…you.SG:meyou.DU:meyou.PL:me…

Verb Aspect

Language changeLanguage change

August Schleicher: Language change reflects

cultural change (-> teleological view of language

change)

From isolating to From isolating to agglutinativeagglutinative

(1) Melanesian Pidgin (Whaley 1997: 136)

aus bloŋ mi > aus blo-mi

house belong me house of-me / my

From isolating to From isolating to agglutinativeagglutinative

(2) how ever > however

by cause > because

going to > gonna

there fore > therefore

in deed > indeed

N meaning ‘body-like’ > -ly

any body > anybody

in front of > in.front.of

From agglutinating to From agglutinating to fusionalfusional

(1) Paamese (Whaley 1997: 137)

a. *na-i-lesi-Ø > ni-lesi- ØI-FUT-see-it I.FUT-see-it

b. *ko-i-lesi-nau > ki-lesi-nauyou-FUT-see-me you.FUT-see-me

From fusional to isolatingFrom fusional to isolating

SG PL

NOM stan stan-as

GEN stan-es stan-a

DAT stan-e stan-um

ACC stan stan-as

SG PL

NOM stone ston-es

GEN stone’s ston-es

Developmental cycleDevelopmental cycle

fusional

isolating agglutinativeReduction/

Merger

FusionLoss

No evidence for the entire cycle from one language

Morphological features can differ in one language

Head marking vs. dependent Head marking vs. dependent markingmarking

(1) English dependent-markingThe man’s house

(2) Hungarian (Comrie 1989) head-markingaz ember ház-athe man house-his‘The man’s house’

(4) Haruai (Comrie 1989) no markingnöböramman house‘the man’s house’

(3) Turkish (Comrie 1989) double-markingAdam-Kn ev-iMan-POSS house-his‘the man’s house’

Head marking vs. dependent Head marking vs. dependent markingmarking

Level Head Dependent

Phrase

Clause

Possessed nounNounAdposition

PredicateAuxiliary

PossessorAdjectiveNP

Arguments + AdjunctsVerb

Nicholas 1986

ClauseClause

(1) Chechenda:-s wo’a-na urs-Ø tü:xirafather-ERG son-DAT knife-NOM struck‘The father stabbed the son.’

(2) Japanese

boku ga tomudati ni hana o tü:xiraI SUBJ friend to flowers OBJ gave‘The man gave the woman the book.’

ClauseClause

(3) Abkhaz

a-xàc?a a-pÉ@s a-Sq?@ Ø-l@-y-te-yt?the-man the man the-book it-her-he-gave-FIN‘The man gave the woman the book.’

(4) Tzutujil

x-Ø-kee-tij tzyaq ch’ooyaa?ASP-3SG-3PL-ate clothes rats‘Rats ate the clothes.’

ClauseClause

(5) Dani

ap palu-nen Ø-nasikh-eMan python-OBJ 3SG.OBJ-eat.PST-3SG.SUBJ‘The python ate the man.’

(6) English

The man gave Peter the book.

Adpositional phraseAdpositional phrase

(1) German

wegen des Wettersmit dem Windgegen den Wind

(2) Russian

s brat-omwith brother-INST‚with (the) brother)

Adpositional phraseAdpositional phrase

(3) Abkhaz

a-j@yas a-q’n@the-river its-at‘at the river’

(4) Tzutujil

ruu-majk jar aachi3SG-because.of the man‘because of the man’

Adpositional phraseAdpositional phrase

(5) Turkish

Mehmed-in el-iMehmed-POSS hand-his‘Mehmed’s hand’

(6) Tiwi

j@r@k@paituwaiacrocodile tail‘crocodile’s tail’

Cross-linguistic Cross-linguistic generalizationsgeneralizations

If a language has head-marking morphology anywhere, it

will have it at the clause level.

Head-marking morphology favors verb-initial order, while

dependent-marking morphology disfavors it.

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

arguments can usually be omitted.