Typology and Universals

Comparison of the grammars of human languages reveals systematic patterns of variation. Research in typology and universals attempts to uncover those patterns, to formulate the universal constraints on language that define those patterns, and to seek explanations for the universals. In this volume, the first of its kind, William Croft provides the reader with a comprehensive introduction to the method and theory used in typology-universals research, together with an overview of basic grammatical differences between languages. He discusses theoretical issues ranging from the most fundamental - on what basis can the grammars of diverse languages be compared? - to the most abstract - what is the role of functional and historical explanation of language universals? - and gives extensive illustration from the world's languages. Numerous case studies provide extended examples of the methodologies applied to specific problems. As well as explicating basic concepts established in the last thirty years, current areas of typological research are thoroughly covered (including diachronic typology and the functional-typological approach). This textbook will appeal to scholars and students alike in linguistics and anthropology.

A thorough rewriting to reflect advances in typology and universals in the past decade.

The second edition of this essential textbook has been thoroughly rewritten and updated to reflect advances in typology and universals over the past decade. It reviews new methodologies such as the semantic map model and questions of syntactic argumentation; discussion of current debates over explanations for specific classes of universals; and comparison of the typological and generative approaches to language.

The second edition of this essential textbook has been thoroughly rewritten and updated to reflect advances in typology and universals over the past decade. It reviews new methodologies such as the semantic map model and questions of syntactic argumentation; discussion of current debates over explanations for specific classes of universals; and comparison of the typological and generative approaches to language.

William Croft presents a comprehensive introduction to the method and theory used in studying typology and universals. The second edition of this essential textbook has been thoroughly rewritten and updated to reflect advances in typology and universals in the past decade.

William Croft is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Manchester. His books include Studies in Typology and Diachrony for Joseph H. Greenberg (edited with Keith Denning and Suzanne Kemmer, 1990), Typology and Universals (Cambridge, 1990), Syntactic Categories and Grammatical Relations: the Cognitive Organization of Information (1991), Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach (2000), and Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective (2001).

1. Introduction; 2. Typological classification; 3. Implicational universals; 4. Markedness in typology; 5. Grammatical hierarchies; 6. Prototypes and the interaction of typological patterns; 7. External motives and the typology of form-function relations; 8. Diachronic typology; 9. Linguistic explanation in the dynamic paradigm; Notes; References; Map of languages cited; Author index; Language index; Subject index.