Linguistic Typology

This textbook provides a critical introduction to major research topics and current approaches in linguistic typology, the study of structural variation in human language and of the limits on that variation. Jae Jung Song draws on a wide range of cross-linguistic data to describe what linguistic typology has revealed both about language in general and about the rich variety of ways in which meaning and expression are achieved in the world's languages. Following an introduction to the subject matter and its history, the first part of the book explores theoretical issues and approaches, as well as practical considerations such as sampling methods and data collection. In the second part, chapters examine variation in particular phenomena, such as word order, case alignment, and evidentiality marking. Each chapter concludes with study questions and suggestions for further reading. The volume will be suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of linguistic typology and language universals, and as secondary reading for cross-linguistically focused courses in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.

1 - Linguistic typology: An introductory overview
2 - Unity and diversity in the world's languages
3 - Typological analysis
4 - Linguistic typology and other theoretical approaches
5 - Language samples and sampling methods
6 - Data collection: Sources, issues and problem
7 - Typological asymmetry: Economy, iconicity, and frequency
8 - Categories, prototypes, and semantic maps
9 - Phonological typology
10 - Basic word order
11 - Case alignment
12 - Grammatical relations
13 - Valency-manipulating operations
14 - Person marking
15 - Evidentiality marking

Jae Jung Song was Professor of Linguistics at the University Otago. His research interests included linguistic typology, Korean linguistics, Oceanic linguistics, and language policy. He is the author of Linguistic Typology: Morphology and Syntax (Longman, 2001), The Korean Language: Structure, Use and Context (Routledge, 2005), and Word Order (CUP, 2012), and the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology (OUP, 2010; paperback 2013). He has held visiting appointments with Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig) and La Trobe University (Melbourne).