4. The Indo-European Language Family and Proto-Indo-European: Porovnání verzí

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Phonological systems tend towards structural balance, as evidenced by the pairing of voiced and voiceless consonants or front and back vowels. Therefore, reconstructing a phonologically balanced system would make a language acquire sounds to fill gaps and eliminate sounds that cause assymetries.
 
Phonological systems tend towards structural balance, as evidenced by the pairing of voiced and voiceless consonants or front and back vowels. Therefore, reconstructing a phonologically balanced system would make a language acquire sounds to fill gaps and eliminate sounds that cause assymetries.
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'''2) Consider the 3 types of typological classification presented in the book and their respective foci. How is each of the classifications a product of its time and place? '''
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* 1) ''Based on the number of morphemes per word''
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** from early 19th century
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** recognizes following types of languages:
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*** 1) isolating language
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**** generally has 1 morpheme per word
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**** words do not vary their form; use no affixes; frequently monosyllabic
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**** heavy reliance on word order
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**** Vietnamese
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*** 2) agglutinating language
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**** several morphemes per word
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**** every word consists of a root and a number of affixes
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**** each morpheme remains distinct and identifiable
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**** 1 meaning expressed per morpheme
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**** Turkish
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*** 3) inflecting language
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**** a number of morphemes per word, root + affixes, as well
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**** morphemes may be fused, modified, irregular (x agglutinating)
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**** each affix expresses a number of different meanings
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**** Latin
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** difficulty with this method = assumes a progression from a “primitive” isolating language to a more sophisticated agglutinating type to a most “advanced” inflecting type
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*** independent words may develop into affixes and separate affixes into inflections BUT there is nothing primitive about isolating languages
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**** there is even evidence of languages changing in the opposite direction:
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***** ENGLISH (formerly highly inflected, now shows more agglutinating and isolating characteristics)
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* 2) ''broader type proposed by Edward Sapir in 1921 in book “Language”''
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** 3 distinctions: analytic, synthetic, polysynthetic
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*** 1) analytic language
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**** Modern English
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**** does not combine inflectional morphemes, and if so, only a little
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**** grammatical relations indicated by WO and function words  (only to a limited extent by affixing)
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*** 2) synthetic language
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**** expresses grammatical relations primarily by affixing
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**** agglutinating and inflecting languages count as synthetic
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*** 3) polysynthetic language
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**** combines a large number of morphemes into a single word, but keeps the morphemes distinct
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** Sapir sees this classification useful not for classifying languages but for defining changes in them
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*** the major movement in the ENGLISH language is a movement from synthetic to analytic
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* 3) ''a recent typological classification''
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** based on the order of elements in the sentence – the position of the subject, verb, and object
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** languages fall primarily into 3 basic types – SVO, SOV, VSO
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*** 3 other types, much rarer – VOS, OSV, OVS
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** other WO tendencies arise from the basic order of O and V (S’s not as important typologically)
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*** - VO x OV -> prepositions x postpositions, suffixes x prefixes,...
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* MAJOR DIFFICULTY WITH ALL THE SCHEMES = there is no such thing as a “pure” type – all are mixed or inconsistent
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** e.g. Modern English – exhibits features of isolating, agglutinating, and inflecting languages at the same time
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*** WO – English appears to be quite consistently VO, but it goes against VO tendencies by typically placing ADJ and genitives before nouns (the large house, the table’s leg), but there exist other, periphrastic phrases ( the house at the corner, the leg of the table)
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* PRODUCTS OF ITS TIME AND PLACE
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** given that the first two classifications seem to be somewhat related, their difference lies in rejecting the puristic view of isolating languages as primitive and opting for a more modern version of a practically identically-focused typology (the number of morphemes)
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** the last, recent typology is focused differently (syntactically rather than morphologically)

Verze z 4. 11. 2015, 18:09

1. Speculate on why it makes sense to reconstruct a phonologically balanced system (p.116).Text kurzívou

Phonological systems tend towards structural balance, as evidenced by the pairing of voiced and voiceless consonants or front and back vowels. Therefore, reconstructing a phonologically balanced system would make a language acquire sounds to fill gaps and eliminate sounds that cause assymetries.

2) Consider the 3 types of typological classification presented in the book and their respective foci. How is each of the classifications a product of its time and place?

  • 1) Based on the number of morphemes per word
    • from early 19th century
    • recognizes following types of languages:
      • 1) isolating language
        • generally has 1 morpheme per word
        • words do not vary their form; use no affixes; frequently monosyllabic
        • heavy reliance on word order
        • Vietnamese
      • 2) agglutinating language
        • several morphemes per word
        • every word consists of a root and a number of affixes
        • each morpheme remains distinct and identifiable
        • 1 meaning expressed per morpheme
        • Turkish
      • 3) inflecting language
        • a number of morphemes per word, root + affixes, as well
        • morphemes may be fused, modified, irregular (x agglutinating)
        • each affix expresses a number of different meanings
        • Latin
    • difficulty with this method = assumes a progression from a “primitive” isolating language to a more sophisticated agglutinating type to a most “advanced” inflecting type
      • independent words may develop into affixes and separate affixes into inflections BUT there is nothing primitive about isolating languages
        • there is even evidence of languages changing in the opposite direction:
          • ENGLISH (formerly highly inflected, now shows more agglutinating and isolating characteristics)
  • 2) broader type proposed by Edward Sapir in 1921 in book “Language”
    • 3 distinctions: analytic, synthetic, polysynthetic
      • 1) analytic language
        • Modern English
        • does not combine inflectional morphemes, and if so, only a little
        • grammatical relations indicated by WO and function words (only to a limited extent by affixing)
      • 2) synthetic language
        • expresses grammatical relations primarily by affixing
        • agglutinating and inflecting languages count as synthetic
      • 3) polysynthetic language
        • combines a large number of morphemes into a single word, but keeps the morphemes distinct
    • Sapir sees this classification useful not for classifying languages but for defining changes in them
      • the major movement in the ENGLISH language is a movement from synthetic to analytic
  • 3) a recent typological classification
    • based on the order of elements in the sentence – the position of the subject, verb, and object
    • languages fall primarily into 3 basic types – SVO, SOV, VSO
      • 3 other types, much rarer – VOS, OSV, OVS
    • other WO tendencies arise from the basic order of O and V (S’s not as important typologically)
      • - VO x OV -> prepositions x postpositions, suffixes x prefixes,...
  • MAJOR DIFFICULTY WITH ALL THE SCHEMES = there is no such thing as a “pure” type – all are mixed or inconsistent
    • e.g. Modern English – exhibits features of isolating, agglutinating, and inflecting languages at the same time
      • WO – English appears to be quite consistently VO, but it goes against VO tendencies by typically placing ADJ and genitives before nouns (the large house, the table’s leg), but there exist other, periphrastic phrases ( the house at the corner, the leg of the table)
  • PRODUCTS OF ITS TIME AND PLACE
    • given that the first two classifications seem to be somewhat related, their difference lies in rejecting the puristic view of isolating languages as primitive and opting for a more modern version of a practically identically-focused typology (the number of morphemes)
    • the last, recent typology is focused differently (syntactically rather than morphologically)