Chapter 7: Universals…

… and language typology

NOTES: About exercising: it keeps you healthy: physically &

mentally… I’ve tried to match the slides to the order of the textbook

this time…

Language Universals

Determine what is possible and impossible in language structure

For Example Languages appear to have

/p, b, t, d, k, g/ OR JUST /p, t, k/ BUT NOT /b, d, g/

Word Order… watashi-wa inu-ga mimashita

I (subject) dog (object) saw (I saw a dog) (default structure)

watashi-ga inu-wa mimashita I (object) dog (subject) saw (A dog saw me) (marked structure)

*mimashita inu-ga watashi-wa (saw) dog (object) I (subject)

SOV

OSV

VOS

Word Order Continued

What is English’s default word order? Can we change to a marked structure? Why would we want to?

Given what we’ve discussed… Is there a universal word order?

Why Do We Care? (About Universals)

Practical Simplifies language study &

description

Theoretical Understanding Human mind Social organization of everyday life

Cautions

Deep information on limited set > 6,000 languages < 1,000 well researched &

documented

Cognitive & social inferences Typically based on logic

(not solid proof)

Language Typology

Classifying languages according to their structural

characteristics

Typology Categories Default Word Order

SVO, SOV, etc Phonological Characteristics

Voiced stops or not

Language Groupings May be mixed Should be meaningful Not related to language families

Semantic Universals Basic terms: (blue, dog, man…)

Morphologically simple Less specialized in meaning Not recent additions to the language

Pronouns All languages (appear to) have

1st person pronouns 2nd person pronouns

Phonological Universals

All languages: At least three vowel phonemes

High front, Low, High back Never more nasal vowels than non-

nasal Notice: Rules include

“either… or” “tend to have…” “generally…”

Remember /p,t,k/ from slide #2

Syntactic & Morphological Word order revisited…

Tendency for Subject to precede Object

Word order can be manipulated for rhetorical effect

Standard word order affects Possession Prepositions vs. postpositions Head noun of relative clauses

Now You Try It

For a language you know, what is its word order?

What’s the relationship between: Possessor and possessed Pre/post-position & noun phrase Relative Clause & head noun

Hedges Revisited

Absolute Universals All languages have at least 3 vowels

Universal Tendencies Verb initial languages tend to use

preposition + noun phrase

Possible Origins of Universals Monogenetic theory

All languages from one source Physiological factors

Phonological: High, Low, Back Cognitive processing

Children’s acquisition patterns Social issues

Pronouns

Recommended Exercises

TBA Enough of each to get the point