Typological Survey Research Articles

A typology of denominal verb formation strategies

AbstractThis article aims to fill a gap in the typological literature by discussing the typology of overt denominal verb formation strategies, that is, morphosyntactic strategies other than conversion/zero‐derivation that are used to derive a verb from a nominal base. We analyse the morphological, syntactic and semantic properties of these strategies in a variety sample of 222 languages. These properties include the morphological status, the productivity, and the semantic effects of the overt verbaliser, as well as the features of the nominal base and the polysemy patterns that characterise verbalisers across languages. The typological survey is complemented by a section on the diachronic typology of overt denominal verb formation strategies, in which we identify the most common diachronic sources of overt verbalisers and discuss the diachronic dynamics that involve them in relation to other denominal verb formation strategies such as conversion/zero‐derivation.

A typological survey of the phonological behavior of implosives: Implications for feature theories

This paper presents the first cross-linguistic investigation into the phonological behavior of implosive sounds. In many feature theories, implosives share features with obstruent sounds, plus some implosive-specific laryngeal feature. These feature theories predict, then, that implosives should pattern phonologically as a natural class with obstruents, to the exclusion of sonorants. We take a detailed look at the phonological patterning of implosives in six languages, and present results of a typological survey of implosives in 88 languages where implosives contrast with sonorants and obstruents at the same place of articulation. We find that, despite previous feature-based proposals which assume that implosives are obstruents, implosives pattern with sonorants to the exclusion of obstruents in 38% of languages in our sample. Another 32% of languages show mixed behavior, where implosives pattern with both obstruents and sonorants, depending on the specific phonological process involved. We discuss the implications of our results for the phonological featural representation of implosives, and propose future historical and phonetic studies to further illuminate the cross-linguistic behavior of implosive sounds.

Absence of Clausal Islands in Shupamem

Decades-long research on islands has led to the conclusion that island constraints are candidates for language universals. A recent surge in research on islandhood in African languages has revealed some would-be island configurations that are transparent for A¯- dependency formation. In this article, we show that in Shupamem, all clausal configurations expected to have the status of opaque island domains fail to block the formation of long-distance A¯- dependencies involving object ex situ focus. In support of the claim that A¯- movement has occurred in such cases, we rely on evidence from three wh- movement diagnostics (weak crossover effects, reconstruction phenomena and quantifier float). Furthermore, we show that non-movement dependencies across purported island boundaries in the language are also possible through the licensing of “island”-internal negative concord items by external non-local negators. We conclude that clausal island effects fail to materialize in Shupamem ex situ focus constructions and negative concord item-licensing domains. Based on an exploratory typological survey of islands in African languages, we indicate a trend toward varying degrees of island permeability in the area, concluding that while Shupamem is not an isolated example, it features one of the most permissive grammars known to date in this respect.

Fostering Urban Cohesion: Exploring Morphological Adaptations in Budapest’s IX District through a Typological Survey

In response to the imperative to enhance urban structures for global sustainability and improved quality of life, the European Union has diligently established parameters and policies fostering urban cohesion and territorial integration. Embracing the guidelines conceived by the European Commission, this research presents a case study examining morphological conditions in the IX District of Budapest, Hungary—a strategically chosen area undergoing renovation. The primary goals of the intervention are to address social and spatial segregation, enhance urban performance, and promote global resilience. Employing a Typological Survey methodology, an in-depth assessment was conducted and translated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. Consequently, the morphological analysis successfully identified five distinct types of elements composing the urban structure of the studied area. This analysis revealed a highly heterogeneous constitution characterized by dynamic and continuous changes, reflecting the evolving nature of the urban landscape. Findings indicate noteworthy improvements in the performance and quality of public spaces while preserving the historical morphological characteristics that have long defined this area and its urban landscape.

Adnominal possession in the languages of Wallacea: a survey

Abstract This article presents a typological survey of patterns of adnominal possession in 85 Austronesian and Papuan languages of Linguistic Wallacea, providing a more granular picture of possessive constructions in the region than previously available. The features treated are possessive word orders, locus of possessive marking, possessive classification systems, and multifunctionality of adnominal possessive markers. Unlike their relatives to the west, the Austronesian languages of Linguistic Wallacea tend to show Possessor-Possessum ordering and have an alienability distinction, often instantiated through contrastive direct and indirect constructions. In terms of broad typological features, contact with and shift from Papuan languages can be shown to have caused widespread remodeling of the adnominal possessive patterns in Austronesian languages of the area. However, their distribution and formal manifestations make clear that they are not the result of a single Papuan contact event in a single Austronesian common ancestor but must go back to multiple localized contact events across Linguistic Wallacea. Subregional patterns are often found clustered in smaller groups of languages and are the result of local processes of contact and change including morphologization and morphological loss. These become apparent when tracking changes in historically related form-function pairs in possessive constructions.

Split Inalienable Coding in linguistic Wallacea: typology, origins, spread

AbstractThis paper is a typological survey of inalienable possessive constructions in the linguistic area of Wallacea and its surrounds. In a sample of 189 Austronesian and non-Austronesian languages, 13 have a phenomenon not previously recognised in the theoretical or typological literature: Split Inalienable Coding (SIC), whereby a language has two or more possessive coding strategies that are closely or exclusively associated with expressing inalienable possession. This paper focusses on semantically conditioned splits, where minimally one strategy encodes the possession of body parts, and another the possession of kin terms. Geographically, all of the sampled languages with semantic SIC are located in Wallacea; special attention is therefore given to the development of split inalienables in this region. In most of these languages, SIC has developed very recently. I argue that there have been multiple causes of SIC: Austronesian languages are predisposed to develop SIC, due to the inheritance of a structurally defined class of kin terms that favours the distinction; and contact has also played a role in Northwest New Guinea, with SIC diffusing both across and within genealogical groupings.

Papuan-Austronesian contact and the spread of numeral systems in Melanesia

Abstract This study analyzes the numeral systems of Austronesian and Papuan languages, investigating their areal distribution and considering their most likely ancestral states. The presence or absence of different methods of numeration has often been ascribed to contact-induced change. This can certainly be seen in scholarship pertaining to Melanesia, where Austronesian languages probably first came into contact with Papuan languages around 3,500 years ago. Indeed, since Proto-Austronesian is reconstructed as having employed a decimal (base-10) numeral system (with reflexes occurring throughout the Austronesian world), the presence of quinary (base-5) numeral systems in the Austronesian languages of Melanesia has commonly been attributed to contact with Papuan languages. Relying on a typological survey of 1,825 languages, this paper argues that highly conventionalized quinary systems were probably rare in Melanesia prior to the arrival of Austronesian languages. Rather, it was more likely that Austronesian speakers spread lexicalized quinary systems to Papuan groups, not the other way around. In making this argument, the paper stresses that, while numeration may be something that is linguistically encoded in a systematic fashion, it may also be realized as a cultural feature without strongly conventionalized lexicalized expressions.

Asymmetric Infixation

In this paper, I present novel evidence supporting the claim that there are no right-edge infixes. Based on a typological survey, I demonstrate that all putative right-edge infixes only surface in languages with right-edge prosodic prominences. It is therefore possible to reanalyze all right-edge infixes as prominence-oriented infixes. Infixes, as a result, are highly asymmetric: they can occur in the left edge of a stem or in a prosodically prominent position, but nowhere else. To account for this asymmetric distribution, I propose that infix subcategorization is implemented by Anchor, rather than Alignment. Anchor has been previously argued to also be asymmetric (Nelson 2003), where it can target left edges or prominent positions, but crucially never right edges alone. By contrast, Alignment does not predict this asymmetry. I therefore conclude that affixation is divided into two distinct typologies: reduplication and infixation are governed by Anchor, but generic affixation is governed by Alignment.

Low-LOD fragility curves of structural units in masonry building clusters for territorial risk analysis

The constant yet irregular construction process taking place in historical towns during decades, if not centuries, is based on spontaneous, and often unlawful, aggregation, superposition, and juxtaposition of building units, realized in different times with different construction techniques and materials. This process produces the so-called masonry building clusters, which constitute the fabric of most historical towns in Southern Europe. Though usually well integrated from the functional standpoint, their structural functioning is often hardly interpretable, especially under seismic actions. Since 2008, the Italian technical code, recognizing the complexity of analyzing masonry building clusters, allows subdividing them into distinct structural units and then by performing separate non-linear analyses on each structural unit. The code provides indications on how to identify each structural unit and, once it has been singled out, modeling and analysis can benefit of some simplifications: each floor can be analyzed and verified separately, the axial force variation in the walls can be disregarded, and the global torsional behavior can be neglected. These common-sense simplifications aim at avoiding complex FEM models, which would overexert the simplifications introduced, and encourage the development of more efficient assessment procedures, especially for large scale territorial risk studies, where the required level of detail (LOD) is generally low. Along these lines, this study proposes a procedure formulated in analytical form, which allows developing fragility curves of structural units belonging to masonry building clusters based, both, on gross geometrical data available from typological surveys, and on typical mechanical properties taken from the Italian code. Recognizing that the analysis tool should be commensurate to the knowledge level, the procedure has been implemented in a spreadsheet. This allows producing, with limited computational effort, fragility curves to be used in comprehensive risk assessment studies of historical centers. An application on a masonry building cluster in Umbria, Italy, is presented, which shows that the procedure yields accurate results with concise input data and that the corresponding fragility curves can be obtained with minimal computational effort, which is an extremely useful feature when performing risk analyses of historical city centers.

Dating Medieval Ghent (Belgium): Dendrochronological and Typological Survey of the Roofs of Saint Nicholas’ Church

Abstract Roof construction is a key element while documenting and studying building traditions in historical towns. In the city centre of Ghent (Belgium), numerous roofs of large monuments (churches, merchants’ halls, town halls) as well as historical houses from the pre-industrial era are still in place. Tree-ring research has been carried out on several intact roof constructions since the 1990s. The dated roofs range from the mid-13th to the 17th century. Recent research has revealed the presence of historical roofs in the church of St. Nicholas, an iconic building in the city’s historical centre. Tree-ring research has dated the roof constructions of the nave and the choir to the first and second quarters of the 13th century, which makes them the oldest preserved examples of carpentry in Ghent and among the oldest in Flanders (northern Belgium). These and other such dating results for the Ghent region allow for the development of a typology for (late) medieval and early modern roof constructions and provide context for a better understanding of the procurement, trade, and transport of building timber from the early 13th century to the early modern era.

Financing for the protection and development of forests and the forest environment in Greece

This paper investigates the contribution of Greek forestry financing to the conservation, protection and restoration of the country’s forest ecosystems and the utilization of available financial resources in the formulation of forestry policy. The structure of national financial resources in the forestry sector and their allocation to the country’s forestry services for the implementation of corresponding projects are examined. Particular emphasis is placed on the financing of the country’s forestry services from national resources of the Public Investment Program. The data are processed with the hierarchical grouping method of multivariate statistics in combination with descriptive statistics. The allocations of funding and their respective absorptions are analysed by clusters. The identification of clusters contributes to the creation of a clearer perception of the problems of the mountainous area and to the assessment of the possibilities of its more rational development, creating the conditions for the selection of alternative solutions. This typological survey of forestry financing is considered important in the context of the effort to correctly capture the needs and possibilities of exploiting financial resources, as well as for the accurate planning and programming of actions in the field of forestry per regional unit.

Refining explanation in Evolutionary Phonology: macro-typologies and targeted typologies in action

AbstractIn this paper, we highlight the role of typology in providing an empirical basis for explanation within Evolutionary Phonology with a focus on rare sound patterns and extra-phonetic explanation. Broad typological surveys of sound patterns or macro-typologies that include phonetic detail may, at once, support universal tendencies and document rare sound patterns, offering arguments for theories in which universal tendencies based on phonetic explanation are emergent properties of markedness-free grammars. However, in order to explain rarity and explore extra-phonetic factors, targeted typologies, narrowed by specific structural properties or contact histories, may be necessary. In this study, the complementary roles of broad and targeted typologies are illustrated through recent case studies of three basic components of phonological systems—sound inventories, alternations, and phonotactics—, with a focus on non-phonetic explanations that have enhanced the predictive power of the Evolutionary framework.

Correlations of valency alternations and morphological types: A typological perspective

This article explores the connection between expression of valency alternations and the overall morphological typology of a language from a cross-linguistic perspective. On the basis of a typological survey of empirical data in 40 geographically and genealogically diverse languages, it finds two universal tendencies relating to the scale of morphological types from most to least bound: fusional – agglutinative – isolating. First, the compatibility of morphological techniques used to express valency alternations does not extend further left than the overall morphological typology of the language. Second, it may extend further right, with extensive attestation of this possibility. The morphological expression of valency alternations is thus constrained by the overall morphology of the language, but tends to be pushed further towards the right.

Introduction: the role of the lexicon in actionality

AbstractActionality (also referred to by labels such as “lexical aspect” or “aktionsart”) is the semantic dimension that encodes the constituent phases and boundaries of situations. Despite its central role in aspectual interpretation, careful language-specific descriptions and typological surveys of actional systems have been rare thus far. In this introduction, we describe the steps that lead to the compilation of the present special issue. We discuss several theoretical and methodological challenges that both field linguists and typologists face when investigating actional systems in the languages of the world and we point out some of the important insights to be gained from such endeavors. We then proceed to give an overview of the individual and varied contributions that make up this issue.

Early Iron Age ‘black’ glass in Southwestern Iberia: typology, distribution, and context

In the past few years, deeply colored black-appearing glass has garnered a growing interest in the context of research on Iron Age glass technology and trade. The numerous ‘black’ glass beads found in Early Iron Age contexts of Southern Portugal have not however been considered in this discussion, and they remain largely unsystematized. In this contribution, a typological survey of these objects is presented which highlights their unusual concentration in a well-delimited area of Southern Portugal and their relatively circumscribed chronological setting. This is particularly striking when compared with other groups of beads, namely blue beads of various types, which are much more widespread and long-lasting. The global position of these beads is also considered, with typological comparisons and the few available compositional data suggesting that they may be the product of Punic, and perhaps specifically Carthaginian trade with the Western Iberian Peninsula. Finally, the possible specific historic context in which these beads arrived in Southern Portugal is considered.

Correlation between the victim personality type and specificity of the impact of bullying

From the psychological-social perspective, the problem of bullying is relevant and significant. The article provides the opinions of different authors on the problem of bullying, its types, and peculiarities of manifestation. Special attention is given to the attitudes of the parties to bullying - aggressor and victim – viewed in their close interrelation . Special emphasis is placed on position of a victim. Based on victimological approach, a hypothesis is put forward on the significance of the victim personality in a situation of bullying, depending on personality type, susceptibility or resistance  of an individual to the effects of bullying. The object of this research is the impact of bullying factors upon victim personality. The subject the correlation between victim personality type and specificity of the impact of bullying. The research employs MMPI typological survey, as well as based on the classification of the impact of bullying forms a questionnaire that includes most relevant for the respondents bullying factors. The use of correlation analysis allowed establishing both positive and negative correlations between the personality type and specificity of the impact of bullying (bullying factor). Such research indicate the specific susceptibility/resistance to certain manifestations of bullying, characteristic to a number of personality types (hysteroid, excitable, epileptoid, psychasthenic, schizoid). The acquired results contribute to the organization of targeted psychological that would help a person to overcome difficulties in a situation of bullying.

Syllable Complexity and Morphological Synthesis: A Well-Motivated Positive Complexity Correlation Across Subdomains

Relationships between phonological and morphological complexity have long been proposed in the linguistic literature, with empirical investigations often seeking complexity trade-offs. Positive complexity correlations tend not to be viewed in terms of motivations. We argue that positive complexity correlations can be diachronically well-motivated, emerging from crosslinguistically prevalent processes of language change. We examine the correlation between syllable complexity and morphological synthesis, hypothesizing that the process of grammaticalization motivates a positive relationship between the two features. To test this, we conduct a typological survey of 95 diverse languages and a corpus study of 21 languages with substantive (predominantly >10,000 words) corpora from the DoReCo project. The first study establishes a significant positive correlation between syllable complexity, measured in terms of maximal syllable patterns, and the index of synthesis (morpheme/word ratio). The second study tests the hypothesis that the relationship between syllable complexity and synthesis holds at local (word-initial and word-final) levels and within noun and verb types, as predicted by a grammaticalization account. While the findings of the corpus study are limited in their statistical power, the observed tendencies are consistent with our predictions. This study contributes important findings to the complexity literature, as well as a novel method which incorporates broad typological sampling and deep corpus analysis.

Sinitic as a typological sandwich: revisiting the notions of Altaicization and Taicization

Abstract Decades of works dedicated to the description of (previously) lesser-known Sinitic languages have effectively dispelled the common myth that these languages share a single “universal Chinese grammar”. Yet, the underlying cause of their grammatical variation is still a matter for debate. This paper focuses on typological variation across Sinitic varieties. Through comparing the typological profiles of various Sinitic languages with those of their Altaic and Mainland Southeast Asian (MSEA) neighbors, we discuss to what extent the variation within the Sinitic branch can be attributed to areal diffusion. Taking into account over 360 language varieties of seven different genetic affiliations (Sinitic, Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Hmong-Mien, Tai-Kadai, Austroasiatic) and 30 linguistic features, we conduct a typological survey with the aid of the phylogenetic program NeighborNet. Our results suggest that convergence towards their non-Sinitic neighbors has likely played a pivotal role in the typological diversity of Sinitic languages. Based primarily on their degree of Altaic/MSEA influence, the Sinitic varieties in our database are classified into four areal groups, namely 1) Northern, 2) Transitional, 3) Central Southeastern, 4) Far Southern. This classification scheme reflects the intricate interplay between areal convergence, regional innovations, and retention of archaic features.

Word-initial rhotic avoidance: a typological survey

This paper addresses the issue of word-initial rhotic avoidance (WIRA) from a typological point of view. Its first aim is to document WIRA cross-linguistically, based on the examination of a sample of 200 languages designed by the WALS (Dryer and Haspelmath 2013). This set of 200 languages has been surveyed in order to reveal rhotic (and more generally liquid) phonotactic patterns in relation to word-initial avoidance. On the basis of this survey, the paper identifies two types of WIRA: i) phonological, or emic-WIRA; and ii) phonetic, or etic-WIRA. The first and most notable result of this research is that 49% of all languages containing at least one phonemic rhotic exhibit some degree of emic-WIRA, i.e, they possess no word or very few words beginning phonologically with at least one of their rhotics in their native lexicon. The paper also examines how word-initial rhotics are adapted from a non-WIRA language into a WIRA language. The loanword adaptation data suggest that WIRA is a recessive feature because no language in the sample has been observed to develop WIRA due to language contact (although one exception, Gascon, has been identified outside of the 200-language sample). Finally, the paper proposes two new universals in relation to WIRA: 1) if a language forbids /l/ word-initially, it also forbids /r/; 2) a rhotic segment never occurs as the positional allophone of a non-liquid segment word-initially.

Lexical diversity and the issue of the basilect/acrolect distinction in Lingua Franca

Abstract In their typological survey of pidgins, Parkvall and Bakker (2013) observe that pidgin discourse is characterized by an exceptionally low type-token ratio. Taking this observation as its starting point, the present paper examines the type-token ratio in Lingua Franca, a contact language traditionally classified as a pidgin. The study is based on a unique mini-corpus consisting of parallel translations in Lingua Franca and four comparator languages: Italian, Spanish, French and English. The paper shows that the type-token ratio of the Lingua Franca variety reflected in the mini-corpus matches, and in parts surpasses, those of its Romance lexifiers and English. The study expands our knowledge of the basilect/acrolect distinction in Lingua Franca and contributes to the discussion about the role of lexical diversity in the typological categorization of contact languages.