Morphological typology

1
Morphological typology

• Holger Diessel
• University of Jena
• holger.diessel_at_uni-jena.de
• http//www.holger-diessel.de/

2
Morphological parameters

• Index of synthesis
• Index of fusion

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Index of synthesis
isolating
synthetic
Vietnamese
English
Russian
Oneida
4
Isolating language
(1) Vietnamese (Comrie 1981 43) Khi tôi ðèn nha
ban tôi, When I come house friend I When I
came to my friends house, chùng tôi bat ðâu làm
bài. PL I begin do lessen we began to do
lessons.
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Synthetic language
(2) Kirundi (Whaley 199720) Y-a-bi-gur-i-ye
abâna CL1-PST-CL8.them-buy-APPL-ASP CL2.children
He bought them for the children.
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Polysynthetic language
Noun-incorporation (cf. fox-hunting,
bird-watching)
(3) Mohawk (Mithun 1984 868) a. r-ukwet-íyo
he-person-nice He is a nice
person. b. wa-hi-sereth-óhare-se
PST-he/me-car-wash-for He car-wash for me.
( He washed my car) c. kvtsyu v-kuwa-nyat-ó
ase fish FUT-they/her-throat-slit They will
throat-slit a fish.
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Index of fusion
agglutinative
fusional
Swahili
Russian
Oneida
8
Agglutinative language
(1) Turkish (Comrie 1981 44) SG PL Nomina
tive adam adam-lar Accusative adam-K adam-lar-K
Genitive adam-Kn adam-lar-Kn Dative adam-a ada
m-lar-a Locative adam-da adam-lar-da Ablative a
dam-dan adam-lar-dan
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Fusional language
(2) Russian SG PL Nominative stol stol-y
Accusative stol stol-y Genitive stol-a stol-
ov Dative stol-u stol-am Instrumental stol-om
stol-ami Prepositional stol-e stol-ax
SG PL lip-a lip-y lip-u lip-y lip-y lip lip-e
lip-am lip-oj lip-ami lip-e lip-ax
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Hypothetical language
(1) sleep-pa-no-ku-sa
(2) sleep-pi-no-ka-so
V-PST-ACT-1-SG I slept
V-PRS-ACT-3-PL They are sleeping
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Polysynthetic language
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Language change
August Schleicher Language change reflects
cultural change (-gt teleological view of
language change)
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From isolating to agglutinative
(1) Melanesian Pidgin (Whaley 1997
136) aus blo? mi gt aus blo-mi house belong me
house of-me / my
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From isolating to agglutinative
(2) how ever gt however by cause gt because go
ing to gt gonna there fore gt therefore in
deed gt indeed N meaning body-like gt -ly an
y body gt anybody in front of gt in.front.of
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From agglutinating to fusional
(1) Paamese (Whaley 1997 137) a. na-i-lesi-Ø
gt ni-lesi- Ø I-FUT-see-it I.FUT-see-it b. k
o-i-lesi-nau gt ki-lesi-nau you-FUT-see-me you.
FUT-see-me
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From fusional to isolating
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Developmental cycle
fusional
Loss
Fusion
isolating
agglutinative
Reduction/Merger

• No evidence for the entire cycle from one
  language
• Morphological features can differ in one
  language

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Head marking vs. dependent marking
(1) English dependent-marking The mans
house
(2) Hungarian (Comrie 1989)
head-marking az ember ház-a the man house-his
The mans house
(3) Turkish (Comrie 1989)
double-marking Adam-Kn ev-i Man-POSS house-his
the mans house
(4) Haruai (Comrie 1989) no
marking nöbö ram man house the mans house
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Head marking vs. dependent marking
Nicholas 1986
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Clause

• Chechen
• da-s woa-na urs-Ø tüxira
• father-ERG son-DAT knife-NOM struck
• The father stabbed the son.
• (2) Japanese
• boku ga tomudati ni hana o
  tüxira
• I SUBJ friend to flowers OBJ
  gave
• The man gave the woman the book.

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Clause
(3) Abkhaz a-xàc?a a-pÉ_at_s
a-Sq?_at_ Ø-l_at_-y-te-yt? the-man the man
the-book it-her-he-gave-FIN The man gave the
woman the book. (4) Tzutujil x-Ø-kee-tij tz
yaq chooyaa? ASP-3SG-3PL-ate clothes
rats Rats ate the clothes.
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Clause
(5) Dani ap palu-nen Ø-nasikh-e Man python-OB
J 3SG.OBJ-eat.PST-3SG.SUBJ The python ate the
man. (6) English The man gave Peter the
book.
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Adpositional phrase
(1) German wegen des Wetters mit dem
Wind gegen den Wind (2) Russian s brat-om wi
th brother-INST with (the) brother)
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Adpositional phrase
(3) Abkhaz a-j_at_yas a-qn_at_ the-river its-at a
t the river (4) Tzutujil ruu-majk jar aachi
3SG-because.of the man because of the man
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Adpositional phrase
(5) Turkish Mehmed-in el-i Mehmed-POSS hand-
his Mehmeds hand (6) Tiwi j_at_r_at_k_at_pai tuwaia
crocodile tail crocodiles tail
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Cross-linguistic generalizations

• If a language has head-marking morphology
  anywhere, it will have it at the clause level.
• Head-marking morphology favors verb-initial
  order, while dependent-marking morphology
  disfavors it.
• If a language has head-marking at the clause
  level, arguments can usually be omitted.