LIN476H5 F 2024
Language Diversity and Language Universals
Homework Assignment 2
Due: Fr, Oct. 6, by 11:59p
This assignment contains just one research component. You will be presenting a few of the most basic typological features of your research language.
|
You will need to have one (or more) comprehensive, descriptive grammar(s) ready. It will need to contain information on both phonological and morpho-syntactic features of your language. If you do not have a source, you will need to consult with me immediately. Again, identifying a research language is one of the first and foundational tasks for this course, and it is your responsibility to ensure that you complete it.
|
1. Word order features. Usually, to give a typological overview of a language, linguists will first of all look at a few most basic word order features:
Basic constituent order—the order among the subject, object, and verb.
Word order among elements in an NP/DP—e.g. those three thick books
Word order among elements in an NP/DP containing a possessor-possessum relation— e.g.John’s book
Word order among elements in a PP
(a) First, look through the descriptive grammar of your research language. Find out about how
your language behaves with respect to these four basic word order features. Describe each of these features by presenting and discussing (at least) one example from your grammar that directly demonstrates the feature in question.
Present these examples typed, glossed/translated and numbered, as you practiced in Assignment #1.
Examples need citations, too. To do so, place a right-aligned citation below the translation, in the following format (author year:p. X, ex. Y)—where X is the page number, and Y is the original example number (if there is one).
To give a clear scientific discussion, don’tjust “state the conclusion & throw out an example.” Instead, follow up the conclusion and the example with a specific explanation for how the example shows the conclusion. See example below.
|
The egg discovered on the terrace outside of the MN building earlier today is a duck egg, not a Canadian goose egg. A photograph of this egg is shown in (1).
|
|
(1)
|
|
|
We see that the egg in question has a pearly white shell, with no visible pattern on the shell. In addition, it measures around 7 cm in long diameter. Both of these features are typical of duck eggs, whereas Canadian goose eggs typically have …
|
(b) Which of Greenberg’s original universals directly concern these four word order-related features or correlations between these four features?
For each such universal, re-state it in a logically transparent format; determine what type of universal it is, and, finally, discuss whether your research language conforms to, or deviates from, the universal—in relation to examples.
(c) Consult WALS: which of WALS’ features concern the four word order-related features above? For each of the 4 features, find out which percentage of the languages surveyed by WALS patterns with (has the same feature value as) your research language.
2. Typological characterization of the phonological system.
(a) Is your language tonal, according to your descriptive grammar? According to a certain typological database on phonological features (which one)?
(b) What are the sizes of the consonant inventory and the vowel inventory of your language? Find a pair of features in WALS that directly concern consonant and vowel inventory sizes. How do those WALS features classify your language, in terms of its inventory sizes?
(Do you understand how those features are coded immediately,just by reading the title? If not, what did you do? And what did you find out? Write these into your answer to the question above.)
(c) In a typological sense: which consonant(s) in your language’s inventory is/are the most
marked? How about vowels? In each case, cite the relevant data from the relevant database.
(d) Why did I say “in a typological sense” above? Briefly explain.
(e) You may have wondered whether typologists have done any work on correlations between different phonological features, like what Greenberg did on correlations between word order- related features. As it turns out, people have—only with the help of phonological-typology databases.
Take a read at the following article by Pericliev (2008) —link posted on Quercus:
Pericliev, Vladimir (2008). Implicational phonological universals. Folia linguistica, 42(1), 195-225.
It is a long research article with a lot of details that you may not need. How do you read such an article, you ask? Read the abstract, and carefully. Get a sense of what the main contribution of the article is. Then, look down the article to find where the author presents that main contribution.
Question for you:
Find 4 implicational universals in Pericliev (2008), each concerning a different type of segment in the antecedent (see his sub-titles—plosives, implosives, etc,) that your language has. Does your language conform. to, or deviate from, this universal?