Typology Kinds

Lesson 1. Introduction to Contrastive Grammar

Contents

Lesson 1. Introduction to Contrastive Grammar 1

1. Contrastive Grammar, its Aims and Methods of Investigation. 1

2.Typology Kinds. 1

3.Terms and Notions of Contrastive Typology. 3

4.Methods of Investigation in Contrastive Typology. 3

Contrastive Grammar, its Aims and Methods of Investigation

Contrastive Grammar is a part of Contrastive Typology.

Typology as a branch of linguistics aims at establishing similar general linguistic categories serving as a basis for the classification of languages of different types, irrespective of their genealogical relationship.

Contrastive typology (порівняльна типологія) aims at establishing the most general structural types of languages on the basis of their dominant or common phonetical/phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic features.

The number of different languages which may be simultaneously subjected to typological contrasting at a time is not limited and is always predetermined by the aim pursued.

Contrastive typological investigations may be focused on various linguistic phenomena ranging from separate signs of the phonetic/ phonological, morphological, lexical or syntactic plane up to several languages.

The final aims of major typological investigations are the following:

1) to identify and classify accordingly the main isomorphic and allomorphic features characteristic of languages under investigation;

2) to draw from these common or divergent features respectively the isomorphic regularities (закономірності) and the allomorphic singularities (відмінності) in the languages contrasted;

3) to establish on the basis of the obtained isomorphic features the typical language structures and the types of languages;

4) to perform on the basis of the obtained practical data a scientific classification of the existing languages of the world;

5) to establish on this basis the universal features/phenomena, which pertain to (иметь отношение) each single language of the world.

Typology Kinds

Typological investigations are manifold and thus need to be classified. The main kinds of typologies are as follows:

1. Universal typology which investigates all languages of the world and aims at singling out in them such features/phenomena which are common in all languages. These features are referred to as absolute universals. Their identification is carried out not only on the basis of the existing (living) languages but also on the basis of dead languages like Sanskrit, ancient Greek or Latin. Also the hypothetic abstract etalon language created by typologists for the sake of investigation is widely made use of by universal typology. This "language" plays a very important role in foreseeing the quantitative representation of various phenomena in different languages. Universal typology on its part provides the etalon language with all necessary data concerning the quantitative representation of various phonetical, lexical and grammatical features or means of expression.

2. Special typology usually investigates concrete languages, one of which is the native tongue. The language in which the description of isomorphic and allomorphic features is performed is usually referred to as metalanguage. In our here case the metalanguage is English.

3. General typology has for its object of investigation the most general phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactic or stylistic features. This typological approach to the morphological structure of words in different languages enabled the German scholar W. Humboldt to suggest the first ever typological classification of languages (on the morphological basis).

4. Partial typology investigates a restricted number of language features/phenomena; for example, the system of vowels/consonants, the means of word-formation or the syntactic level units. As a result, several level typologies are distinguished: a) typology of the phonetic/ phonological level units; b) typology of the morphological level units; c) typology of the lexical level units; d) typology of the syntactic level units.

5. Areal typology (ареальна типологія) investigates common and divergent features in languages of a particular geographical area with respect to their mutual influence of one language upon the other. A scientific generalisation of such long-term influences in the phonetic/ phonological, lexical or even grammatical aspects of different languages of multinational areas like Dagestan, the Balkans, Transcarpathia/ Transcaucasia and others is of considerable theoretical and practical value.

6. Structural typology has for its object the means of grammatical expression, the order of constituent parts at the level of words, word- combinations and sentences. Structural typology aims at identifying mainly dominant features, which characterise the structural type of each of the contrasted languages.

7. Functional typology investigates the frequency of language units in speech, the regularities and particularities of their use with the aim of expressing different meanings.

8. Content typology investigates the types of possible meanings expressed by various language units and their forms in the contrasted languages.

9. Qualitative typology, investigating predominant features (phonetic, morphological, syntactic) in the contrasted languages and characterising them according to the predominance of some of these qualities. Hence, languages are found to be vocalic, consonantal or tender, harsh, etc. Due to the predominance of some morphological features languages may correspondingly be identified (classified) as synthetic, analytical, agglutinative, etc.

10. Quantitative typology investigates the quantitative correlation of some features and phenomena and their identifying (dominant) role in the contrasted languages. Thus, taking into account the small quantity of inflexions and the great role of analytical means as prepositional connection and placement of components in English word-groups and sentences, this language can be identified by its syntactic structure as predominantly analytical.

11. Semasiological typology investigates the ways of expressing meaning (the inner content) of language units in the contrasted languages.

12. Onomasiological typology is a part of semasiological typology. Its object of investigation is isomorphic and allomorphic ways of giving family names and nicknames to people in different contrasted languages. For example, in English: Love, Hope, Lem, Ivy; Mr. Crabtree (Backbite, Gradgrind, Knowall); in Italian: Cane (family name "Dog"), Marchellino (little Mark), Colombo (Pigeon), etc. And in Ukrainian: Люба (Love), Надя/Надія (Hope), Лепестина (petel-like, petel), Любомир (Peace Loving), Горох (Pea), Часник (Garlic), Клен (Maple), Береза (Birch), Неїжмак (Don't-eat-poppy seeds), Сороксобак (Forty dogs) and the like Ukrainian Cossacks nicknames which became family names.

13. Synchronic and diachronic typologies investigate language units or phenomena of a definite level with the aim of establishing isomorphisms and allomorphisms in their form and meaning during a definite historical period (or periods) in the contrasted languages.