Typology

Aims

Aims

Typology investigates different structural types in the world’s languages. It determines where languages diverge from one another, and where they share properties which are common or potentially universal. The purpose of this module is to enhance the knowledge of students who have reached an advanced stage in linguistics. It enables them to understand the diversity of structures in the world’s languages, thereby allowing them to put their theoretical work in context. We will focus on key areas in syntax, morphology and phonology and investigate possible (and by implication impossible) linguistic types, using available online datasets, as well as written resources.

By the end of the module, students will have:

• Knowledge of key resources available for checking typological claims
• Knowledge of major typological works and associated claims about language universals
• An understanding of different approaches to typology, including their strengths and limitations
• The ability to evaluate typological claims and their theoretical implications
• An appreciation of the challenges faced in sampling languages

This module will be capped at 35.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites

Students must have successfully completed:

• L09C Introduction to phonetics & phonology (LAN00009C)
• L11C Introduction to syntax (LAN00011C)

or by permission of the instructor.

Programme

Programme

Teaching programme

The module will address eight related topics, as outlined below.

1) a. How many languages are there?
    b. What do we know about them?
    c. How does this affect what generalizations we can make about them?

2) a. Syntax: word order universals.
    b. Which word orders occur most often?
    c. The challenge of sampling.
    d. The relationship between theory and typology, defining S, V and O.

(After the lectures and seminars for this topic, students will be required to investigate word order further by using the online datasets available for the World Atlas of Language Structures, available at http://www.wals.info.)

3)  a. Syntax: alignment systems.
     b. What are alignment systems?
     c. Which alignment systems occur most often?

(After the lectures and seminars for this topic, students will be required to investigate alignment systems further by using the online datasets available for the World Atlas of Language Structures, available at http://www.wals.info.)

4)  a. Implicational universals.
     b. What happens when we combine what we know about word order and alignment systems?
     c. Does the choice of alignment system influence the choice of word order?
     d. Relating the results to theoretical claims.
     e. Other implicational relations.

5)  a. Phonology: consonant-vowel ratios.
     b. Consonant-vowel ratios appear to have a geographic distribution.

(After the lectures and seminars for this topic, students will be required to investigate phonological features further by using the online datasets available for the World Atlas of Language Structures, available at http://www.wals.info.)

6)  a. Morphology: syncretism.
     b. What is syncretism?
     c. Syncretism and feature hierarchies.

(After the lectures and seminars for this topic, students will be required to investigate syncretism further by using the online datasets available at http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk.)

7)  a. Morphology: person and number.
     b. The animacy hierarchy.
     c. Interaction of number with other morphosyntactic features.
     d. Person syncretisms.
     e. Interaction of person and number.

(After the lectures and seminars for this topic, students will be required to investigate person syncretisms further by using the online datasets available at http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk.)

8)  a. Different approaches to Typology.
     b. Greenbergian typology.
     c. Typology and parameters.
     d. Canonical Typology.

Where possible students will also be encourage to look at source grammars to consider the correspondence between the detail and the type to which they are assigned in different typologies.

Teaching materials

• Baerman, Matthew, Dunstan Brown and Greville G. Corbett. 2005. The Syntax-Morphology Interface: a Study of Syncretism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Brown, Dunstan, Marina Chumakina and Greville G. Corbett (eds.) 2012. Canonical Morphology and Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Corbett, Greville G. 2000. Number. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Dryer, Matthew S. 1997. On the Six-Way Word Order Typology. Studies in Language 21: 69-103.
• Haspelmath, Martin, Matthew S. Dryer, David Gil and Bernard Comrie (eds.) 2005. The World Atlas of Language Structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Siewierska, Anna. 2004. Person. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Song, Jae Jung. 2001. Linguistic Typology: Morphology and Syntax. London: Longman.
• Song, Jae Jung. 2011. The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Online resources

• Baerman, Matthew. 2002. The Surrey Person Syncretism Database. Available online at http:// http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/PersonSyncretism/index.aspx.
• Baerman, Matthew, Dunstan Brown & Greville G. Corbett. 2002. The Surrey Syncretisms Database. Available online at http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Syncretism/index.aspx.
• Dryer, Matthew S. and Martin Haspelmath (eds.) 2011. The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library. Available online at http://wals.info.
• Lewis, M. Paul (ed.) 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.

Assessment and feedback

Assessment and feedback

Formative assessment

Three formative Dataset Investigations in weeks 3, 5 and 7.

Summative assessment

• Dataset investigation
  • Resubmission of one of the formative investigations for summative assessment
  • Due: Autumn Term, Week 9
  • Weight: 30%
• Essay 
  • Length: 3000 words
  • Due: Spring Term, Week 1
  • Weight: 70%

Skills

Transferable skills developed in this module

All modules provide an opportunity to work on general oral/written communication skills (in class and in assessments) and general self management (organising your studies), alongside the specific skills in language or linguistics that the module teaches.

In addition, this module will allow you to particularly develop skills in the application of data analysis: among other things, you will work with online datasets and resources to determine patterns to be found across languages. You will learn to evaluate the reliability of typological claims. From looking at the different ways in which information is expressed in languages across the planet you will gain an appreciation and awareness of diversity, in particular linguistic diversity.

Follow this link to hear how past students use transferable skills from their degree in their current jobs.