Linguistic Typology: Diversity and Universals

Catalog description

What is the most common word order? What is the rarest consonant? What kinds of case marking are attested in the world's languages? Which linguistic structures tend to co-occur? What can we learn by looking at the rarity of linguistic structures? These are the kinds of questions central to linguistic typology, the study and classification of languages based on their structural properties. In this course we will look at the variety of linguistic structures attested in several linguistic subfields, including phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Understanding linguistic diversity is closely tied with the search for linguistic universals, since there appear to be some ways in which linguistic structures seem to be limited. But what is the nature of those limits (if they truly exist), and what do they tell us? We will also look at methodological issues that arise in comparing languages and forming meaningful generalizations. Prerequisites: 80-180 , and one of 80-280 , 80-282 , 80-285 or permission of the instructor. Prerequisites: 80-180 and ( 80-282 or 80-280 or 80-285 )