Linguistic typology - ALINP202M

• Title: Linguistic typology
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Linguistics (21-ULING)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: winter
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 4
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (18)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Mgr. Viktor Elšík, Ph.D.

Annotation

Last update: Mgr. Viktor Elšík, Ph.D. (19.09.2022)

Linguistic typology is a field of linguistics studying the regularities and limits of structural variation across natural human languages. The course introduces the typological approach to language and its place within linguistic theory and provides a practical insight into the methodology of typological research. While the course focuses primarily on the current typological paradigm, one lesson is devoted to Prague School typology for historical reasons.

Course completion requirements

Last update: Mgr. Viktor Elšík, Ph.D. (19.09.2022)

The course is concluded by graded assessment, which is based on the number of points gained through coursework: excellent = 90–100 points, very good = 80–89 points, good = 70–79 points, failed = 0–69 points. In case of substantiated absence in the class, e.g. due to illness, an alternative way to gain points is through annotations of typological papers.

Literature

Last update: Mgr. Viktor Elšík, Ph.D. (19.09.2022)

* Basic references
Croft, William. 2003. Typology and universals: Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dryer, Matthew S. 1989. Large linguistic areas and language sampling. Studies in Language 13: 257-292.
Dryer, Matthew S. 1998. Why statistical universals are better than absolute universals? Papers from the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, 1-23.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2003. The geometry of grammatical meaning: Semantic maps and cross-linguistic comparison. In: Tomasello, Michael (ed.) The new psychology of language, vol. 2. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 211-242.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2010. Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in cross-linguistic studies. Language 86, 663-687.
Haspelmath, Martin, Matthew S. Dryer, David Gil & Bernard Comrie (eds.) 2005. The world atlas of language structures. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

* Further references
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. & R. M. W. Dixon. 1998. Dependencies between grammatical systems. Language 74, 56-80.
Comrie, Bernard. 1981. Language universals and linguistic typology: Syntax and morphology. Oxford: Blackwell.
Dressler, Wolfgang U. 1985. Typological aspects of natural morphology. Wiener Linguistische Gazette 35-36, 3-26 = Acta Linguistica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 35, 51-70.
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1954. A quantitative approach to the morphological typology of language. International Journal of American Linguistics 26, 178-194.
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. In: Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.) Universals of language. 73-113. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2006. Against markedness (and what to replace it with). Journal of Linguistics 42: 25-70.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2009. An empirical test of the Agglutination Hypothesis. In: Scalise, Sergio, Elisabetta Magni & Antonietta Bisetto (eds.) Universals of language today. Dordrecht: Springer. 13-29.
Haspelmath, Martin, Ekkehard König, Wulf Oestereicher & Wolfgang Raible (eds.) 2001. Language typology and language universals: An international handbook. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hawkins, John A. 1990. A parsing theory of word order universals. Linguistic Inquiry 21, 223-261.
Keenan, Edward L. & Bernard Comrie. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8, 63-99.
Plank, Frans. 1998. The co-variation of phonology with morphology and syntax: a hopeful history. Linguistic Typology 2, 195-230.
Greenberg, Joseph H., Charles A. Ferguson & Edith A. Moravcsik (eds.) 1978. Universals of human language, Vol. 1: Method and theory. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Mallinson, Graham & Barry J. Blake. 1981. Language typology: Cross-linguistic studies in syntax. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Rijkhoff, Jan & Dik Bakker. 1998. Language sampling. Linguistic Typology 2, 262-314.
Sgall, Petr. 1971. On the notion “type of language”. Travaux linguistiques de Prague 4, 75-87.
Silverstein, Michael. 1976. Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In: Dixon, R. M. W. (ed.) Grammatical categories in Australian languages. 112-171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
Skalička, Vladimír. 1935. Zur ungarischen Grammatik. Praha: Facultas Philosophica Universitatis Carolinae Pragensis.
Skalička, Vladimír. 1966. Ein “typologisches Konstrukt”. Travaux linguistiques de Prague 2, 157-164.
Skalička, Vladimír. 1977. Konstrukt-orientierte Typologie. Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Philologica 5, Linguistica generalia 1, 17-23.
Song, Jae Jung. 2001. Linguistic typology: Morphology and syntax. Harlow/London: Pearson Education.
Whaley, Lindsay J. 1997. Introduction to typology. London: Sage.

Syllabus

Last update: Mgr. Viktor Elšík, Ph.D. (19.09.2022)

1. Typological approach to language

2. Comparative concepts I: introduction

3. Comparative concepts II: an example

4. Areal aspects

5. Language sampling

6. Parameter selection and typologization

7. Generalizations I: introduction

8. Generalizations II: semantic maps

9. Generalizations III: project reports

10. Explanations

11. Prague School typology