An Introduction to Linguistic Typology

Citation

Velupillai, V. (2012). An Introduction to Linguistic Typology. John Benjamins.

Chapter Summary

The book runs to about 520 pages in thirteen chapters, followed by two appendices (a selected list of websites of typological interest, and macro data on every language cited), a glossary, references and a subject index. Every chapter follows the same pattern: a list and map of the languages cited in it, the main sections, a section on sign languages, a summary, keywords and exercises. Each chapter also includes at least one feature map showing the global distribution of a selected feature. The publisher presents it as the first introduction that consistently applies the findings of the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS; the book uses the 2011 online edition) and that systematically includes pidgin and creole languages.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Explains what typology is about and how it relates to other subdisciplines of linguistics, states the intended readership and explains the book's conventions: examples cite their primary sources, short definitions are given even for basic concepts, and reference tips point to further study.

Chapter 2: Typology and universals

Defines typology and classification, with notes on pidgins, creoles and mixed languages and on sign languages, and then asks what universals are and how they are stated.

Chapter 3: Methodology

Subtitled "Sampling, databases, and how many languages does a typologist speak?", the chapter treats data and the situation of the world's languages, sampling, typological databases such as WALS, and methodological issues specific to sign languages.

Chapter 4: Phonology

Phonemes, syllables and prosody (consonants, vowels, syllables and suprasegmentals), then phonological typology: segment inventories and syllable patterns across languages.

Chapter 5: Morphology

Morphological typology, closing with the morphology of sign languages.

Chapter 6: The lexicon and its classes

Word formation (derivation, compounding and processes such as noun incorporation, mapped as especially common in the Americas) and the typology of parts of speech.

Chapter 7: Nominal categories and syntax

Categories of the noun phrase such as gender (from two genders up to around twenty) and agreement, and noun-phrase syntax, ending with these categories in sign languages.

Chapter 8: Verbal categories

After a brief note on the verb phrase, the chapter covers tense (including degrees of remoteness), aspect and the other categories marked on verbs, with feature maps of tense systems.

Chapter 9: Simple clauses

Clause participants: semantic roles, pragmatic roles, grammatical relations and alignment (subjects and objects), and the structure of simple clauses.

Chapter 10: Word order

Basic and phrasal word order, languages with flexible order, word order in pidgins and creoles and in sign languages.

Chapter 11: Complex clauses

Coordination (asyndetic and syndetic, monosyndetic and bisyndetic), drawing on Haspelmath's overview, and the other ways languages combine clauses.

Chapter 12: Speech acts and politeness

Declaratives, questions and imperatives, then politeness and the devices that maintain it, such as indirect speech acts and honorifics, with data on pronoun politeness distinctions that compares pidgin and creole languages with others.

Chapter 13: Language change

Grammaticalization (desemanticization and the other component processes, a short note on unidirectionality and degrammaticalization), then contact-induced change and linguistic areas such as the Balkans, the circum-Baltic, Ethio-Eritrea and South Asia, among others.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Foundations

• Typology: the classification of languages by their structural properties, independently of their genealogy.
• Universals: statements about what all languages, or most languages, share, including implications between features.
• Sampling: choosing languages so that a comparison is not biased by family or area.
• Typological database: large collections such as WALS that code features for many languages.

Chapters 4–8: Sounds, words and categories

• Segment inventory: the set of consonants and vowels a language uses, which varies widely in size.
• Parts of speech: the word classes languages distinguish, which differ across languages.
• Gender and agreement: noun classification and the marking of it on other words.
• Tense, aspect and remoteness: locating events in time, their internal structure, and graded distance from the present.

Chapters 9–13: Clauses, use and change

• Alignment: how languages group the arguments of intransitive and transitive verbs.
• Basic word order: the dominant order of subject, object and verb, and of elements within phrases.
• Honorifics: grammatical marking of respect toward the addressee or the person referred to.
• Grammaticalization and linguistic areas: lexical items becoming grammatical, and features shared by neighbouring languages through contact.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Coverage of all domains. The thirteen chapters move from phonology and morphology through parts of speech, the noun phrase and the verb phrase to simple and complex clauses, pragmatics and change, so one book supports a full course on language diversity.
• Data-driven and visual. The book builds on WALS and later databases, gives a language map and at least one feature map per chapter, and cites primary sources so readers can trace the data.
• Inclusive of under-represented languages. Pidgins and creoles are compared with other languages throughout (as in the word-order and politeness chapters), and every chapter has a sign-language section.
• Built for study. Summaries, keywords and exercises close each chapter; the glossary and the appendix of macro data on every language cited make the book usable as a reference.

Limitations

• Some background is assumed. The introduction addresses readers who have taken, at a minimum, introductory courses in general linguistics and in phonetics and phonology, though it gives short definitions of basic terms.
• Breadth over theory. Typological method and the explanation of universals get two chapters (2–3); students who need the theoretical debates on markedness, hierarchies and functional explanation will need a more advanced treatment.
• Database snapshot. The book reflects WALS as of 2011 and the databases available then; current values for any feature should be checked online.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the broad introduction on the typology and fieldwork list and the natural first text. Croft's Typology and Universals is the advanced next step on method and theory, setting out implicational universals, markedness, hierarchies and prototypes and arguing for functional and diachronic explanations; read Velupillai's Chapters 2–3 first. Kroeger's Analyzing Grammar trains the skill of analysing morphology and syntax in unfamiliar languages and pairs well with Chapters 5–11.

For fieldwork, Velupillai shows what range of structures to expect; Payne's Describing Morphosyntax turns that range into questions for describing a particular language, and Bowern's Linguistic Fieldwork and Meakins, Green and Turpin's Understanding Linguistic Fieldwork cover the practice of collecting data with speakers.

How to Use This Book

The book is designed for courses on language diversity and typology and for typologically oriented courses in morphology and syntax, and the publisher adds that it can guide field linguists. Readers should know basic phonetics, phonology and grammatical terms and be able to read interlinear glossed examples.

• Core: Chapters 1–3 for the method, then Chapters 5–10 for the morphosyntactic core of most typology courses.
• Add as needed: Chapter 4 if phonological typology is taught; Chapters 11–12 for clause combining and pragmatics; Chapter 13 for grammaticalization and areal typology.
• Sign-language and creole sections: read them rather than skipping; they are where the book most differs from other introductions.

Work through each chapter's exercises and keywords, and look up features in WALS Online alongside the feature maps to see current data and the languages behind each point. Use the appendix of languages and the glossary as references while reading.