!

"#$%#&'
&
LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS AND
LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY
WHAT ARE LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS?
Language universals

Def.: The study of language that is concerned with
what human languages have in common (Eifring
& Theil 2005: 1).

Linguistic typology

Def.: The study of language which deals with ways
in which languages differ from each other [] and
with the limitations on the degree of variation
found in the languages of the world (ibid.).
2
!"#$%#&'
!
WHY STUDY LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS?
! A partial rather than a holistic study

! There are many different linguistic systems: the
study of language universals aims to cross-
linguistically explain the languages underlying
structure.

! Comparative view: divide languages into typologically
distinct classes

! Generalization (inference): from the partial to the
holistic 3
ANTHROPOLOGICAL V/S TYPOLOGICAL
SIGNIFICANCE
! Not all linguistic singularities of a particular
language are typologically relevant!
! E.g.: Fula (West Africa) has around 82 different
words for cattle: guddiri 'bull without a tail', wudde
'cow without a tail', jaabuye 'cow with a large navel

! Herdsmanship is a fundamental element of the Fula
societies " anthropological significance
! This highly specialised vocabulary hardly affects the
languages structure " little typological
significance
4
!"#$%#&'
)
EXAMPLES OF TYPOLOGICAL STUDIES
! Morphosyntactic classification of languages

! Fundamental relationship
! Relative clauses: relativization on subjects
5
MORPHOSYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION OF
LANGUAGES



Isolating/analytic languages
! Only one morpheme per word (i.e. no bound
morphemes); words are invariant
! East and Southeast Asia (Mandarin Chinese,
Vietnamese), West Africa (Yoruba) and South
Africa (!Kung)
! Also Rapanui (Easter Island)
6
Chapter !: Linguistic Typology
5
!"# Morphological typology

Grammatical expression of meaning may happen in a number of different ways, as
exemplified by the various methods of expressing the distinction between singular
and plural in the nouns of different languages:
2


1. No expression: Japanese hito 'person', pl. hito
2. Function word: Tagalog bato 'stone', pl. mga bato
3. Affixation: Turkish ev 'house', pl. ev-ler; Swahili m-toto 'child', pl. wa-toto
4. Sound change: English man, pl. men; Arabic rajulun 'man', pl. rija1lun
5. Reduplication: Malay anak 'child', pl. anak-anak

The most important typological distinction is between the types 1-2, where each word
consists of only one morpheme, and types 3-5, where a word often consists of more
than one morpheme.

!"#"$ Analytic vs" synthetic languages

Languages in which a word tends to consist of only one morpheme are called analytic
(or isolating). Highly analytic languages are primarily found in East and Southeast
Asia (e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese), as well as West Africa (e.g. Yoruba) and South
Africa (e.g. !Kung [also known as Kung-ekoka or !Xu)]). These languages have no
inflection, and the most extreme ones make limited use of processes of word-
formation.
Languages in which a word tends to consist of more than one morpheme are
called synthetic. English is a mildly synthetic language, while older Indo-European
languages, like Latin, Greek and Sanskrit, are highly synthetic. All of them have
plenty of inflection, derivation and compounding.
Extremely synthetic languages, where words are very complex and sometimes
constitute entire clauses, with extensive use of inflection, derivation and compounding,
are called polysynthetic. Polysynthetic languages are primarily found among Eskimo
and American Indian languages, as well as a few languages in Sibir, Northern
Caucasus and Australia.
Theoretically speaking, languages may locate themselves at any point on the
scale from analytic to polysynthetic:

analytic synthetic polysynthetic
(word = morpheme) (word > morpheme) (word = clause)

In fact, however, no language is purely analytic or purely polysynthetic. Furthermore,
different parts of the grammar may behave in different ways. Japanese, for instance, is
analytic in having no noun inflection, but highly synthetic in having a complex system
of verb inflection.
Consider the contrast between the following two translations of the English
sentence 'If you wait for me, I will go with you':


2
In addition, the Number distinction in the noun may be expressed in the form of nearby verbs or
adjectives, cf. English the man goes vs. the men go.
!"#$%#&'
'
RAPANUI AN ISOLATING LANGUAGE
" 1:1-relationship between morphemes and words

! !a ta!ata
PL. man

men


! i kau koe
PRET swim 2SG

you swam



7
(Salamanca Nov. 2013)
MORPHOSYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION OF
LANGUAGES



Synthetic languages

! Morpheme-per-word ratio: > 1
! Bound morphemes
! Agglutinative vs. flective languages
8
Chapter !: Linguistic Typology
5
!"# Morphological typology

Grammatical expression of meaning may happen in a number of different ways, as
exemplified by the various methods of expressing the distinction between singular
and plural in the nouns of different languages:
2


1. No expression: Japanese hito 'person', pl. hito
2. Function word: Tagalog bato 'stone', pl. mga bato
3. Affixation: Turkish ev 'house', pl. ev-ler; Swahili m-toto 'child', pl. wa-toto
4. Sound change: English man, pl. men; Arabic rajulun 'man', pl. rija1lun
5. Reduplication: Malay anak 'child', pl. anak-anak

The most important typological distinction is between the types 1-2, where each word
consists of only one morpheme, and types 3-5, where a word often consists of more
than one morpheme.

!"#"$ Analytic vs" synthetic languages

Languages in which a word tends to consist of only one morpheme are called analytic
(or isolating). Highly analytic languages are primarily found in East and Southeast
Asia (e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese), as well as West Africa (e.g. Yoruba) and South
Africa (e.g. !Kung [also known as Kung-ekoka or !Xu)]). These languages have no
inflection, and the most extreme ones make limited use of processes of word-
formation.
Languages in which a word tends to consist of more than one morpheme are
called synthetic. English is a mildly synthetic language, while older Indo-European
languages, like Latin, Greek and Sanskrit, are highly synthetic. All of them have
plenty of inflection, derivation and compounding.
Extremely synthetic languages, where words are very complex and sometimes
constitute entire clauses, with extensive use of inflection, derivation and compounding,
are called polysynthetic. Polysynthetic languages are primarily found among Eskimo
and American Indian languages, as well as a few languages in Sibir, Northern
Caucasus and Australia.
Theoretically speaking, languages may locate themselves at any point on the
scale from analytic to polysynthetic:

analytic synthetic polysynthetic
(word = morpheme) (word > morpheme) (word = clause)

In fact, however, no language is purely analytic or purely polysynthetic. Furthermore,
different parts of the grammar may behave in different ways. Japanese, for instance, is
analytic in having no noun inflection, but highly synthetic in having a complex system
of verb inflection.
Consider the contrast between the following two translations of the English
sentence 'If you wait for me, I will go with you':


2
In addition, the Number distinction in the noun may be expressed in the form of nearby verbs or
adjectives, cf. English the man goes vs. the men go.
!"#$%#&'
%
AGGLUTINATIVE LANGUAGES
! One-to-one correspondence between meaning and
form

! Three criteria:
1. Each morpheme carries one meaning only.

2. There is a clear-cut boundary between each
morpheme.

3. Grammatical processes are expressed by affixes
which do not affect the form of the individual
morphemes. 9
AGGLUTINATIVE LANGUAGES
! Examples of agglutinative languages:
! Turkish
! Swahili
! Finnish
! Basque
! Mapudungun
! Etc.
10
!"#$%#&'
*
MAPUDUNGUN AN AGGLUTINATIVE
LANGUAGE
" Each morpheme carries one meaning only.

rngk - kon - fem - tu - a - y - m - i
jump inward imme- there FUT real 2
nd
SG
diately was occur-
a pre- rence
vious
jump
out-
wards

You will immediately jump inwards returning to
the same point.
11
(Salamanca Sept. 2013)
FLECTIVE LANGUAGES
! Morphemes entail more than one meaning.
! Cumulation: e.g. hit|s (3
rd
person singular,
present indicative, active)
! s-morpheme: encodes person, number, tense, mode,
voice and aspect

! Infroflection: grammatical processes may affect
the form of other morphemes:
! man > men; am > was (suppletion)

12
!"#$%#&'
"
MORPHOSYNTACTIC CLASSIFICATION OF
LANGUAGES



Polysynthetic languages

! Extreme complex words which are entire clauses in
other languages.
! Extensive use of inflection, derivation and
compounding
! E.g. Eskimo and Amerindian languages, among
others
13
Chapter !: Linguistic Typology
5
!"# Morphological typology

Grammatical expression of meaning may happen in a number of different ways, as
exemplified by the various methods of expressing the distinction between singular
and plural in the nouns of different languages:
2


1. No expression: Japanese hito 'person', pl. hito
2. Function word: Tagalog bato 'stone', pl. mga bato
3. Affixation: Turkish ev 'house', pl. ev-ler; Swahili m-toto 'child', pl. wa-toto
4. Sound change: English man, pl. men; Arabic rajulun 'man', pl. rija1lun
5. Reduplication: Malay anak 'child', pl. anak-anak

The most important typological distinction is between the types 1-2, where each word
consists of only one morpheme, and types 3-5, where a word often consists of more
than one morpheme.

!"#"$ Analytic vs" synthetic languages

Languages in which a word tends to consist of only one morpheme are called analytic
(or isolating). Highly analytic languages are primarily found in East and Southeast
Asia (e.g. Chinese, Vietnamese), as well as West Africa (e.g. Yoruba) and South
Africa (e.g. !Kung [also known as Kung-ekoka or !Xu)]). These languages have no
inflection, and the most extreme ones make limited use of processes of word-
formation.
Languages in which a word tends to consist of more than one morpheme are
called synthetic. English is a mildly synthetic language, while older Indo-European
languages, like Latin, Greek and Sanskrit, are highly synthetic. All of them have
plenty of inflection, derivation and compounding.
Extremely synthetic languages, where words are very complex and sometimes
constitute entire clauses, with extensive use of inflection, derivation and compounding,
are called polysynthetic. Polysynthetic languages are primarily found among Eskimo
and American Indian languages, as well as a few languages in Sibir, Northern
Caucasus and Australia.
Theoretically speaking, languages may locate themselves at any point on the
scale from analytic to polysynthetic:

analytic synthetic polysynthetic
(word = morpheme) (word > morpheme) (word = clause)

In fact, however, no language is purely analytic or purely polysynthetic. Furthermore,
different parts of the grammar may behave in different ways. Japanese, for instance, is
analytic in having no noun inflection, but highly synthetic in having a complex system
of verb inflection.
Consider the contrast between the following two translations of the English
sentence 'If you wait for me, I will go with you':


2
In addition, the Number distinction in the noun may be expressed in the form of nearby verbs or
adjectives, cf. English the man goes vs. the men go.
INUKTITUT A POLYSYNTHETIC
LANGUAGE



(Eifring & Theil 2005: 6)

If you wait for me, I will go with you.
14
Chapter !: Linguistic Typology
6

(?) If you wait for me, I will go with you' in Chinese and Inuktitut
(?a) Chinese: n de3ng wo3, wo3 jiu4 ge1n n qu4.
2SG wait 1SG 1SG then with 2SG go

(?b) Eskimo:
3
Utaqqi-gu-vi- nga, aulla-qati- gi- niaq- pa- git
wait if 2SG 1SG go partner have future assertion 1SG/2SG

The Chinese sentence consists of eight words, each word corresponding to one
morpheme. In Eskimo (more properly called Inuktitut), however, the same sentence
consists of only two words, utaqqiguvinga and aullaqatiginiaqpagit, each
corresponding to a full clause with 4-5 morphemes. These example sentences are
more extreme than what is common. In Chinese, there are in fact many compound
words, as well as words containing derivational affixes. And in Eskimo, a clause often
consists of more than one word. The clearest contrast is between the lack of inflection
in analytic languages like Chinese vs. the widespread use of inflection in Eskimo.

!"#"# Agglutinative vs" flective languages

Synthetic and polysynthetic languages may be further divided into agglutinative and
flective languages. In the ideal case, an agglutinative language is a synthetic or a
polysynthetic language where there is a one-to-one correspondence between meaning
and form. Consider, for instance, the ablative plural of the Turkish word ev 'house':

ev- ler-den
house PL ABL

The root ev means 'house', the suffix -ler marks the plural and the suffix -den marks
the ablative case.
In an almost ideal case like Turkish, agglutinative languages exhibit all of the
following three properties (while flective languages exhibit the opposite properties):

1. Each morpheme expresses only one meaning element. This is the opposite
of cumulation, where each morpheme expresses more than one meaning
element, such as in modern Greek rfete 'was being written', where the suffix
-ete expresses five different meaning elements: 3
rd
person, singular, passive
voice, durative and past tense.

2. There is a clear-cut boundary between each morpheme. The opposite is
known as fusion, as in East Norwegian past participle [sva:] 'answered',
where the verb root [sva:r] is combined with the suffix [t], but where [r] + [t]
becomes [] by phonological rule, fusing the two morphemes together.

3. Grammatical processes are expressed through prefixes or suffixes and do
not affect the form of the individual morphemes. This is the opposite of
introflection, as in the English plural men of man, or the Arabic plural rija1lun
of rajulun 'man'.

3
See http://web.hku.hk/~althea/inuktitut.html.
!"#$%#&'
+
FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS



Can the traditional subject/object model of
syntactic analysis be considered as typologically
applicable to any language?

15
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
Irrespective of transitivity, we can observe the
following pattern in an unmarked statement:







*Depending on the transitivity of the verb
16
Subject (Direct) Object
Case of the NP nominative accusative
Position of the NP preverbal postverbal
Compulsory/
facultative presence
compulsory facultative*
Morphology Person-number
congruence in the
verb
---
!"#$%#&'
,
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES
! Moreover, these fundamental relationships are independent of
the semantic roles adscribed to the corresponding NP.
Examples:


17
Agent El nio corre. El nio come pur.
Experiencer El nio pasa fro.
Source El nio est hediondo.
Goal El nio recibe un regalo.
Patient El nio es retado.
CASE STUDY: BASQUE

Intransitive sentence:

SUBJECT?
Gizon - a (-0) kale - a - n d - a - go.
Man - DET(-ABS) road - DET- Lok 3ABS - PRES - be
---- Argument ---- +++++++++++ Predicate +++++++++++
-----Adverbial----- ----- Nucleus -----


The man is on the road.
18
!"#$%#&'
&$
CASE STUDY: BASQUE
! The NP of the 1
st
argument (gizona) is in the
absolutive case, one of fifteen morphological
cases of the Basque case system.
! The absolutive case is unmarked (cero-
morpheme).
! In English, the man (1
st
argument) would be the
subject and is independent of its respective
thematic role.
19
CASE STUDY: BASQUE

Transitive sentence:

SUBJECT? SUBJECT?/OBJECT?
Emakume-a-k gizon-a-(0) ikusten d-u(-0).
Woman-DET(-ERG) man-DET-ABS see (INF) 3ABS-AUX.tr(-3ERG)
----- Argument 1 ----- ++++++++++++++++++ Predicate +++++++++++++++++++
-- Argument 2 -- -------------------- Nucleus ---------------------


The woman is seeing the man.
20
!"#$%#&'
&&
CASE STUDY: BASQUE
! Once again, gizona is present, but it now
assumes the function of what we would call direct
object, but preserving the absolutive case.
! The traditionally denominated subject is
embodied by emakumeak and takes the ergative
case.
! The ergative case can only be used in
transitive constructions and usually coincides
with the agent.
21
CASE STUDY: BASQUE
! The verb is not only congruent with the subject of
Indo-European languages, but refers back to all
arguments of the sentence.
>> The fundamental relationships are thus
dependent on the sentences transitivity.

>> The traditional subject/object model can
therefore not be applied on Basque.

22
!"#$%#&'
&!
CASE STUDY: SUMMARY
Equivalences:


23
!"#$%&'($)*+" -+".'+.*/ 0+/1'*
!"#$%&''$ )*+, -./0123, 1*+,


2$34"+546* &(.+546*

788'/+546* 79/$-'546*

:'9;*85 &(.+546*

<4(*85 =9;*85 79/$-'546*

7.*"/ &(.+546*

>+54*"/ 79/$-'546*
(Stolz 2010: 6)
CASE STUDY: SUMMARY
! There is no one-to-one correspondence between
Indo-European and Basque structures and
categories (in morphology, syntax or semantics).
! Indo- European l anguages: exampl es of
nominative-accusative languages
! Basque: example of an ergative language
! Ergative languages do not have a real subject/
object (Stolz 2010: 6). 24
!"#$%#&'
&)
TYPOLOGY OF RELATIVE CLAUSES:
RELATIVIZATION ON SUBJECTS
Four types:

! Relative pronoun strategy
! Non-reduction strategy
! Pronoun-retention strategy
! Gap strategy
25
RELATIVE PRONOUN STRATEGY
! [T]he position relativized is indicated inside the
relative clause by means of a clause-initial
pronominal element (Comrie & Kuteva 2013).
! Threefold function of the relativizer:
! Anaphoric function
! Morphosyntactic function
! Conjunctive/subordinative function
26
!"#$%#&'
&'
RELATIVE PRONOUN STRATEGY
27
(Comrie & Kuteva 2013)
NON-REDUCTION STRATEGY
! [T]he head noun appears as a full-fledged noun phrase
within the relative clause (Comrie & Kuteva 2013).

Correlative clauses

! The antecedent appears fully fledged both in the main
clause and in the relative clause.
Pirah (Brazil)
28
(Comrie & Kuteva 2013)
!"#$%#&'
&%
NON-REDUCTION STRATEGY
Internally headed relative clauses

! The antecedent only appears fully fledged in the relative
clause, but is completely absent from the main clause.
Maricopa (Arizona, USA)


29
(Comrie & Kuteva 2013)
NON-REDUCTION STRATEGY
Paratactic relative clause

! [T]he relative clause contains the full-fledged head and
is the same as an unmarked simple (declarative) clause;
the relative and main clauses are only very loosely joined
together (Comrie & Kuteva 2013).
Amele (Trans-New Guinea and Papua New Guinea)


30
(Comrie & Kuteva 2013)
!"#$%#&'
&*
PRONOUN-RETENTION STRATEGY
! [T]he position relativized is explicitly indicated by means
of a resumptive personal pronoun (Comrie & Kuteva
2013).
Babungo (Bantu, Cameroon)


31
(Comrie & Kuteva 2013)
GAP STRATEGY
! This strategy involves cases where there is no overt case-
marked reference to the head noun within the relative
clause (Comrie & Kuteva 2013).
Turkish

32
(Comrie & Kuteva 2013)
!"#$%#&'
&"
CONCLUSION
! Typological studies are always partial and
punctual, but they often correlate with other
typological parameters.
! They contribute to understanding the structure
of different languages by using a comparative
approach.
! Typological studies may reveal how the speakers
of a specific language structure their thoughts
and how they think (" Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis).
33
REFERENCES

Comri e, Bernard, and Tani a Kuteva. 2011.
Relativization on subjects. In: Matthew S. Dryer and
Martin Haspelmath (eds.). The World Atlas of Language
Structures Online. Munich: Max Planck Digital Library.
Captulo 122. Downloaded from: <http://wals.info/
chapter/122> (accessed 24 May 2014).

Eifring, Halvor, and Rolf Theil. 2005. Linguistics for
Students of Asian and African Languages. Oslo:
University of Oslo. Chapter 4.

Salamanca Gutirrez, Gastn. Sept. 2013. La lengua
mapuche. Curso etnolingstico sobre las lenguas
vernculas de Chile. Concepcin: University of
Concepcin.

34
!"#$%#&'
&+
REFERENCES
-----------. Nov. 2013. Aspectos lingsticos del
pascuense. Curso etnolingstico sobre las lenguas
vernculas de Chile. Concepcin: University of
Concepcin.

Stolz, Thomas. 2010. Ergativ fr blutigste
Anfnger. Bremen: University of Bremen. 1-12.
Downl oaded f rom: <ht t p: / / www. f b10. uni -
bremen.de/iaas/workshop/ergativ/tstolz.pdf>
(accessed 19 May 2014).



35