Language universals and typology

1.

Assume it always holds that "If a language has gender categories in the noun, it has gender categories in the pronoun".

Assume that it is true that "Language X has gender categories in the pronoun". From these it follows that

a)

language X must have gender categories in the noun

b)

language X cannot have gender categories in the noun

c)

language X may or may not have gender categories in the noun

d)

most probably (but not certainly) X doesn’t have gender categories in noun.

2.

All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two numbers. This universal can be

classified as:

a) substantive, tendency b) substantive, absolute c) implicational, tendency d) implicational, absolute

3.

For the universal “If VSO, then Noun preceeds Adj.”, the presence of which configuration would count as a

counterexample?

a) SVO -> Noun Adj b) VSO -> Adj Noun c) SOV -> Noun Adj d) SVO -> Adj Noun

4.

Classify the universals with respect to the properties:

a)

No language has a trial number unless it has a dual.
entity generalised: __________________

b)

VO languages tend to have stress accent accompanied by reduction of unstressed vowels.

type: __________________

c)

In no language the subject must be first passivized before it can be relativized.
quality: ________________

d)

All languages have folk terms for the categories of adoration, alarm, and depression.

entity generalised: ____________

e)

All languages name ‘(finger)nail’ and ‘(toe)nail’.
entity generalised: _______________

5.

Classify the following language universals with respect to the entity generalized, type and quality, and give one

argument (for each type) why you have classified it as such.

a)

If a language has front rounded vowels, then it also has front unrounded vowels.

b)

Noun-phrase-internal case distribution between head noun and any agreeing co-constituents is determined by

dominance relations defined on X-bar structures, not by linear order, contiguity of constituents, or control by
the head noun.

c)

All languages use reduplication as a productive grammatical way of word formation and inflection.

d)

Case affixes on the Noun are always suffixed.

e)

For most languages, if there is word order V+Adv, then there is word order N+Adj.

f)

Only noun phrases can be controllers of agreement.

g)

In all languages, inversion of the word order can be used as a logical or emotional emphasis.

h)

If either the subject or object noun agrees with the verb in gender, then the adjective always agrees with the

noun in gender.

i)

No language has a dual unless it has a plural.

j)

If there are aspirated stops (especially voiceless labial and alveolar), then there is /h/.

k)

If a language has inflection it always has derivation.

6.

Avoiding __________________ in creating a language sample consists in avoiding the possible effects of borrowing.

7.

In the _______________ method propositions follow from a general hypothesis and are tested against data to

determine whether the hypothesis is confirmed or false.

8.

The fact that all languages have colour terms for ‘black’ and ‘white’ can be accounted for with the _______________

explanation.

9.

The presence of speech acts, e.g., requests, can be explained with the _________________ explanation.

Exercise set 3

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10.

The presence of the universal distinction present vs. past can be accounted for with the _______________
explanation.

11.

The morphological typology of English and Polish presents some problems. Give examples of structures (words or

sentences) that would demonstrate that both languages could be classified as belonging to the following three types:
isolating, agglutinating and fusional.

12.

In a/an _________________ language, a bound morpheme may be identified with a number of grammatical meanings.

13.

T or F: A typical feature of inflectional morphemes is that they can express a range of grammatical meanings.

14.

Short, invariable words are typical of ___________ languages.

15.

Compare the expression of the superlative in everyday English and the English of sports announcers. State how the
superlative is expressed and name the morphological types of which these structures are typical.

Manchester United is the winningest team this year. vs. Manchester United has won the most games this year.

16.

The use of the elements in bold type is typical of which morphological types with respect to the degree of a) synthesis
and b) fusion?

czytałaś synthesis: _________________ ; fusion: _________________
będę czytała synthesis: _________________ ; fusion: _________________
książek tośmy całą bibliotekę napisali synthesis: _________________ ; fusion: _________________

17.

The use of the affixes in bold type in the following words is typical of which morphological type(s)?

a) This man is crazy but those men are completely nuts. _________________
b) ‘To vandammize’ means to act the way Claude Van Damme normally does in his movies.
_________________
c) “’Rent-a-tux’ is where you’ll find the widest selection of evening wear, always at competitive prices!”
_________________
d) This book is about a voiceless stop that falls in love with a high front rounded vowel.
_________________
e) Linguistic typology is abso-bloody-lutely great! _________________

updated 27 October 2009

Exercise set 3

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09-10-29 16:18