Chapter 7 Universals and language typology NOTES n

Chapter 7: Universals… … and language typology NOTES: n About exercising: it keeps you healthy: physically & mentally… n I’ve tried to match the slides to the order of the textbook this time…

Language Universals n n Determine what is possible and impossible in language structure For Example n Languages appear to have n n n /p, b, t, d, k, g/ OR JUST /p, t, k/ BUT NOT /b, d, g/

Word Order… n SOV watashi-wa I (subject) inu-ga dog (object) saw (I saw a dog) OSV n (default structure) watashi-ga inu-wa I (object) dog (subject) (A dog saw me) VOS n *mimashita (saw) mimashita saw (marked structure) inu-ga watashi-wa dog (object) I (subject)

Word Order Continued n What is English’s default word order? n n n Can we change to a marked structure? Why would we want to? Given what we’ve discussed… n Is there a universal word order?

Why Do We Care? n Practical n n (About Universals) Simplifies language study & description Theoretical Understanding n n Human mind Social organization of everyday life

Cautions n Deep information on limited set n n n > 6, 000 languages < 1, 000 well researched & documented Cognitive & social inferences n Typically based on logic n (not solid proof)

Language Typology Classifying languages according to their structural characteristics

Typology Categories n Default Word Order n n Phonological Characteristics n n SVO, SOV, etc Voiced stops or not Language Groupings n n n May be mixed Should be meaningful Not related to language families

Semantic Universals n Basic terms: (blue, dog, man…) n n Morphologically simple Less specialized in meaning Not recent additions to the language Pronouns n All languages (appear to) have n n 1 st person pronouns 2 nd person pronouns

Phonological Universals n All languages: n At least three vowel phonemes n n n High front, Low, High back Never more nasal vowels than non-nasal Notice: Rules include n n n “either… or” “tend to have…” “generally…” Remember /p, t, k/ from slide #2

Syntactic & Morphological n Word order revisited… n n n Tendency for Subject to precede Object Word order can be manipulated for rhetorical effect Standard word order affects n n n Possession Prepositions vs. postpositions Head noun of relative clauses

Now You Try It n n For a language you know, what is its word order? What’s the relationship between: n n n Possessor and possessed Pre/post-position & noun phrase Relative Clause & head noun

Hedges Revisited n Absolute Universals n n All languages have at least 3 vowels Universal Tendencies n Verb initial languages tend to use preposition + noun phrase

Possible Origins of Universals n Monogenetic theory n n Physiological factors n n Phonological: High, Low, Back Cognitive processing n n All languages from one source Children’s acquisition patterns Social issues n Pronouns

Recommended Exercises TBA Enough of each to get the point