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This paper investigates cross-linguistic variation in the expression of adnominal person (pers n ; cf. English “we linguists”) based on a survey of 114 languages, focusing on word order. Two subtypes are distinguished according to whether pers n is expressed by an independent pronoun as in English or by a morphologically dependent marker. Prenominal adnominal pronouns are the most common type of pers n marking overall, while the morphologically dependent markers are predominantly postnominal (or phrase-final). The order of pers n marking relative to its accompanying noun is shown to interact with head-directionality (VO/OV-order, position of dependent genitives, adpositions) and with the position of demonstrative modifiers (prenominal/postnominal) using generalised linear mixed-effects models. Theoretical implications and possible explanations for deviations are discussed concerning variation in the encoding of pers n as head or phrasal modifier and its (lack of) co-categoriality with demonstratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose two new statistical controls for genealogical and areal bias in typological samples. Our test case being the effect of VO-order effect on affix position (prefixation vs. suffixation), we show how statistical modeling including a phylogenetic regression term (phylogenetic control) and a two-dimensional Gaussian Process (areal control) can be used to capture genealogical and areal effects in a large but unbalanced sample. We find that, once these biases are controlled for, VO-order has no effect on affix position. Another important finding, which is in line with previous studies, is that areal effects are as important as genealogical effects, emphasizing the importance of areal or contact control in typological studies built on language samples. On the other hand, we also show that strict probability sampling is not required with the statistical controls that we propose, as long as the sample is a variety sample large enough to cover different areas and families. This has the crucial practical consequence that it allows us to include as much of the available information as possible, without the need to artificially restrict the sample and potentially lose otherwise available information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores continuous and discontinuous word order patterns of multi-word nominal expressions in flexible word order languages (traditionally referred to as "free word order" or "non-configurational" languages). Besides describing syntagmatic patterns, this paper seeks to identify any functional or other correlates that can be associated with different word orders. The languages under investigation are a number of Australian languages as well as Vedic Sanskrit, all of which have long been known for their syntagmatic flexibility. With respect to continuous order, evidence from several of these languages suggests that default ordering is primarily governed by functional templates. Deviations from default order, while maintaining continuity, can be attributed to different types of "focus" interpretations or heaviness effects. With respect to discontinuous order, I identify three sub-types. The most widespread one, "Left-Edge Discontinuity", involves one element placed in or near utterance-initial position. It shows a clear, if not an absolute, correlation with different kinds of focus interpretations, similarly to deviations from the default order in continuity. The other two types of discontinuity are linked to the behaviour of specific function words. Besides teasing out cross-linguistic similarities, this paper also sheds light on language-specific characteristics that affect the forms and functions of complex (i.e. multi-word) nominal expressions in flexible word order languages, such as the nature of 2nd position ("Wackernagel") elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the indigenous languages of Malekula Island, members of Oceanic, diverse standard negation strategies have been identified, including double negation, simple preverbal negators, and simple postverbal negators. Individual languages may display more than one strategy. In this article, evidence from Malekula is considered for the typological hypothesis known as the Jespersen Cycle(s). Six standard negation strategies are described in detail and illustrated using data from a sample of Malekula languages. Here, the Jespersen Cycle hypothesis is employed to understand diversity in the synchronic patterning of standard negation in a comparative analysis of the sample: the diverse standard negation strategies found both language-internally and comparatively can be understood as iterations of the Jespersen Cycle(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miao-Yao is one of the major language families of mainland Southeast Asia, with perhaps over one hundred member languages. Despite this, very little information on word order in Miao-Yao has been made available in English or other European languages. Relying primarily on recently published Chinese descriptions, this article presents data on fourteen word order features for eleven Miao-Yao languages for use in large-scale typological studies. It also discusses two typologically unusual word order feature values which have been claimed to be largely or entirely restricted to Sinitic, but which are in fact widespread in Miao-Yao: XVO order and co-occurring VO/RelN order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-category harmony (correlations between basic word order and prefer-ence for suffixes or prefixes) has been proposed by several typologists and psy-cholinguists as a principle to explain some apparent crosslinguistic tendencies. This article attempts to test whether cross-category harmony has an observable influence on morphosyntactic change, and reviews cases of harmonization and disharmonization of affix order. The grammaticalization of associated motion prefixes in Japhug Rgyalrong, a verb-final language of southwest China, con-stitutes a solid case of development of a disharmonie construction out of a harmonic one, and runs counter to the idea that head ordering principles have a direct effect on language change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article evaluates the replicability of the results of Hay & Bauer (2007) and Nettle (1995, 1998, 1999) on a larger dataset. Segments represented in the word lists (SR) is presented as predictor of phonological inventory sizes. The inverse correlation between the size of phonological inventories across languages and word length is examined along with its correlation with speaker population sizes and geography.

The article challenges the four theses of Michael Dunn and colleagues pertaining to crosslinguistic word order correlation. Five word order correlations are presented including the method used for testing for correlations. Their argument against crosslinguistic correlation between the order of adposition and noun phrase and the order of verb and object is examined with respect to existing data. Three types of families they defined are discussed in relation to a test of predictions.

The article examines the use, by Michael Dunn and colleagues, of family trees constructed by reference to lexical cognacies in investigating the stability of word-order parameters. The failure of their topography is discussed as applied to the Indo-European and Austronesian contexts. The inappropriateness of the isolation of each family from its social contexts with other families is explained along with the simplicity of quantifying stability among traits in known phylogenies.

The world's linguistic diversity is large, probably much larger than many linguists would want to admit. Dealing with this diversity is a central objective for worldwide crosslinguistic investigations. This article argues that to deal with diversity it is extremely fruitful to work with probable structures instead of possible structures, with models instead of theories, and with levels of justification instead of right or wrong. This is illustrated with the order of demonstrative, numeral, adjective, and noun within a complex noun phrase. Different NP-internal orders have strongly differing frequencies among the world's languages. Various models to capture these frequencies are proposed and compared to each other, and it will be argued that very simple models are sufficient. For example, a highly adequate model only refers to the fact that noun and adjective tend to occur together, nouns and demonstratives prefer to occur at the phrase boundary, and noun-adjective order is slightly more frequent than adjective-noun order. The same approach will also be used to model sentence word order frequencies, including areal preferences as random effects. Using such probabilistic models allows for a new take on typological explanations. In and of itself, a probabilistic model is no explanation. However, a well-fitting model instantiates a reformulation of the original phenomenon to be explained into smaller, more tractable phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of ordering phenomena in typology and the visibility of Baker's analysis (1988, 1996) of noun incorporation in generative syntax, his prediction (1996: 25–30) that in syntactic incorporation the incorporated noun will always precede the verb root has yet to be tested typologically. Here we fill this gap and survey the known cases of object noun incorporation. The predicted order proves to be strongly preferred crosslinguistically and warrants recognition as a strong statistical universal. However, it is strongest in unproductive and fossilized contexts, the opposite of what is expected if the position of the incorporated noun is determined solely by principles of syntactic movement. The universal must therefore be nonsyntactic, perhaps morphological, in nature and appears to involve a preferred position for heads and/or for noun and verb roots within words. The same principle also shapes other noun-verb combinations in addition to noun incorporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typically, a linguistic typology defines all logically possible types and states which of these types are actually attested and which are not. The task then is to describe such a typology, preferably in the most economic way. In this paper, a descriptive principle is justified to the effect that for any typology with at least one unattested type there exists a minimal description, consisting or a conjunction of non-statistical (implicational) universals, defining all and only the attested types. A method is proposed that finds the minimal description(s) of a typology, and a computer program is sketched that executes the method, illustrating it on the typologies in Greenberg's Appendix H (1966) and Hawkins' Expanded Sample. Hawkins (1983) has noticed that Greenberg's universals do not describe all and only the attested types in Appendix IL but our analysis shows that Hawkins himself has not been fully successful in describing the typology in his Expanded Sample either. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]