Linguistic typology, metalanguage of linguistic typology and language universals

Linguistic Typology

I argue that the distinction between comparative concepts and descriptive categories helps language describers and typologists to benefit from each other because describers are free to set up their own categories, typologists are free to define their own concepts, comparison need not involve complete systems, and interlinear translation can be either based on comparative concepts or descriptive...

Typology and Linguistic Areas

1. DEFINING A LINGUISTIC AREA IN “CENTRAL/EASTERN INDONESIA.” In her Rejoinder to Malcolm Ross’s squib, Klamer (2003) addresses Ross’s critique of her 2002 article, Typical features of Austronesian languages in Central/Eastern Indonesia, stating that, rather than attempting to present a rubric for evaluating genetic relatedness, the article was intended to describe a set of grammatical features...

African languages and linguistic typology

Cross-Entropy and Linguistic Typology

Patrick Juola Department of Experimental Psychology University of Oxford Oxford, UK OX1 3UD [email protected] Abstract The idea of \familial relationships" among languages is well-established and accepted, although some controversies persist in a few speci c instances. By painstakingly recording and identifying regularities and similarities and comparing these to the historical record,...

Linguistic Typology and Formal Grammar

The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the relationship between linguistic typology and formal grammar—a relationship that has existed for several decades now and is unlikely to disappear any time soon. As the reader will see, the two orientations differ in a number of respects, but they share the custody of language, and that motivates the need for communication between the two....