The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right
We examine a database of 3089 languages coded for 351 morphosyntactic features, including almost all of the morphosyntactic features found in The World Atlas of Language Structures (Dryer & Haspelmath 2013). We apply Factor Analysis of Mixed Data, and determine that the main dimensions of global...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Bologna
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/17482 |
| _version_ | 1827396524079841280 |
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| author | Siva Kalyan Mark Donohue |
| author_facet | Siva Kalyan Mark Donohue |
| author_sort | Siva Kalyan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We examine a database of 3089 languages coded for 351 morphosyntactic features, including almost all of the morphosyntactic features found in The World Atlas of Language Structures (Dryer & Haspelmath 2013). We apply Factor Analysis of Mixed Data, and determine that the main dimensions of global morphological variation involve (1) word order in clauses and adpositional phrases, (2) head- versus dependent-marking, and (3) a set of features that show an east-west distribution. We find roughly the same features clustering in similar dimensions when we examine individual macro-areas, thus confirming the universal relevance of these groupings of features, as encapsulated in well-known implicational universals. This study confirms established insights in linguistic typology, extending earlier research to a much larger set of languages, and uncovers a number of areal patterns in the data. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:52:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3a101450c5047dbaa9f5f01f69d58d9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2785-0943 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T18:52:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Bologna |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3a101450c5047dbaa9f5f01f69d58d92023-12-28T16:11:30ZengUniversity of BolognaLinguistic Typology at the Crossroads2785-09432023-12-013213219010.6092/issn.2785-0943/1748215841The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were rightSiva Kalyan0Mark Donohue1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0957-3852The University of QueenslandThe Living Tongues Institute for Endangered LanguagesWe examine a database of 3089 languages coded for 351 morphosyntactic features, including almost all of the morphosyntactic features found in The World Atlas of Language Structures (Dryer & Haspelmath 2013). We apply Factor Analysis of Mixed Data, and determine that the main dimensions of global morphological variation involve (1) word order in clauses and adpositional phrases, (2) head- versus dependent-marking, and (3) a set of features that show an east-west distribution. We find roughly the same features clustering in similar dimensions when we examine individual macro-areas, thus confirming the universal relevance of these groupings of features, as encapsulated in well-known implicational universals. This study confirms established insights in linguistic typology, extending earlier research to a much larger set of languages, and uncovers a number of areal patterns in the data.https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/17482typologyword ordermorphosyntaxhead/dependent-markingcomputational linguisticsareality |
| spellingShingle | Siva Kalyan Mark Donohue The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads typology word order morphosyntax head/dependent-marking computational linguistics areality |
| title | The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right |
| title_full | The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right |
| title_fullStr | The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right |
| title_short | The Dimensions of Morphosyntactic Variation: Whorf, Greenberg and Nichols were right |
| title_sort | dimensions of morphosyntactic variation whorf greenberg and nichols were right |
| topic | typology word order morphosyntax head/dependent-marking computational linguistics areality |
| url | https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/view/17482 |
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