Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time

359 Pages·1992·16.103 MB·English

by  Johanna Nichols

LINGUISTIC
DIVERSITY
IN SPACE
AND TIME
Johanna Nichols
The Universityof Chicago Press
ChicagoandLondon
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
© 1992byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published1992
Paperbackedition1999
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
04 03 02 01 00 99 5432
ISBN:0-226-58056-3(cloth)
ISBN:0-226-58057-1(paperback)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Nichols,Johanna.
Linguisticdiversityinspaceandtime/JohannaNichols.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex.
1. Comparativelinguistics. 2. Areallinguistics. 3. Language
andlanguages—Variation. 4. Linguisticdemography. I.Title.
P143.N53 1992
417'.7—dc20 91-43682
©Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirements
oftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—
PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1992.
Contents
ListofIllustrations vii
ListofTables ix
Acknowledgments xiii
NoteonTranscriptionandAbbreviations xv
1 Introduction 1
2 FavoredandDisfavoredGrammaticalPatterns 45
3 CorrelationsbetweenTypes 97
4 CorrelationsofStructuralTypes withGrammaticalCategories 116
5 DiachronicStability:Genetic andAreal 163
6 TheRoleofGeography:StructuralAffinitiesbetweenAreas 184
7 LinguisticDiversity:GeographicalDistribution 231
8 DiversityandLinguisticPrehistory:Conclusions
andOpenQuestions 254
Appendixes
1 SampleLanguages 283
2 Data:Language(byArea) andStructuralFeatures 292
3 AlphabeticalListofLanguages 302
4 FrequencyandDistributionofVoice Systems 307
Notes 311
References 319
Indexes 343
v
Illustrations
Figures
1 FrequenciesofD/(H+F)ratios 73
2 FrequenciesofD/(D+H+F)proportions 74
3 PlotofDagainstH values(NPandSonly) 77
4 Frequenciesofcomplexity levels 88
5 Treediagramoftypologicaldivergence 229
Maps
1 Sampleareas 28
2 Modernlanguagefamilies 28
3 Samplelanguages 29
4 Head-markinglanguagesinsample 29
5 Double/splitmarkinglanguagesinsample 30
6 Dependent-markinglanguagesinsample 30
7 Ergativelanguagesinsample 31
8 Stative-activelanguages insample 31
9 Languageswithinclusive/exclusiveoppositions 32
10 Languageswith alienable/inalienablepossession 32
11 Languageswithnounclasses 33
12 Languageswithnumeralclassifiers 33
vii
Tables
1 Bioregionsandsampledareas 27
2 Wordorder andtypeofverb inflectionintwo surveys 43
3 Frequenciesofmarkingtypes inthreeconstituents 69
4 Frequenciesofmarkingtypes inconstituents,byarea 70
5 Arealpreferencesfor headanddependent marking
(NPandSonly) 72
6 DpointsinNP+ S 75
7 H pointsinNP+ S 76
8 Noun/pronounsplits 78
9 HeadmarkinginNPandSconstituents,byarea 83
10 DependentmarkinginNPandSconstituents,byarea 83
11 Supportfor correlationsofNPandDmarking,andS andH
marking,shownbylanguagesinTables9-10 84
12 Arealdistributionofcomplexity levels 89
13 Frequenciesofalignmentpatternsamongpartsofspeech 90
14 Types andfrequenciesofergative/accusativesplits 91
15 Arealdistributionofwordorder 94
16 Complexity andhead/dependenttype 99
17 Arealbreakdown:Complexity andhead/dependenttype 100
18 Alignment andhead/dependenttype 101
19 Clauseheadmarkingandalignmentofverbalmorphology 102
20 Alignment andhead/dependenttype 104
21 Wordorder andhead/dependenttype 105
22 Wordorder andhead/dependent type: NewWorldonly 106
ix
X Tables
23 Wordorderandamountofhead-markingmorphologyon
the verb 106
24 Wordorderandhead/dependenttype:Arealfrequencies 107
25 Complexityandalignment 110
26 Complexity andalignment,groupedandfor threemajor
alignmentsonly 110
27 Meancomplexityofdominantalignmenttypes,byarea 111
28 Complexityandalignment:Trends inTable 27 111
29 Complexity andwordorder 112
30 Alignment andwordorder 112
31 Dominantalignmentandwordorder:Two-way breakdown 113
32 Alignment ofverbalmorphologyandwordorder:Two-way
breakdown 113
33 Summaryofcorrelationsfortypefeatures 114
34 Inalienablepossessionandmarkingofthe NP 119
35 Inalienablepossessionanddominantalignment 122
36 Geography andinalienablepossession 123
37 Geographyandinclusive/exclusiveoppositions 124
38 Concordsubclass,gender,andmacrogenderinChechen 126
39 Lociofclassmarking(relativetotheclass-bearingnoun) 128
40 Genderhotbedsandoutliers 132
41 Frequenciesof lociofclassmarking,plustypefeatures 132
42 Pluralityneutralization,bypartofspeechandcontinent 148
43 Alignment andplurality neutralization(languageswith
nonzeroDandH) 149
44 Head/dependenttype andpluralityneutralization(languages
withnonzeroDandH) 149
45 Valence-affectingprocesses,byarea 155
46 Typesandfrequenciesofvoicesystems 155
47 Valence-increasing(+)anddecreasing(-)voice systems
andalignment 156
48 A-affectingandO-affectingvoice systems andhead/
dependent marking 157
49 Locusofmarkingandcategoryofagreementorclassification 161
50 Genetic vs. arealstability 165
51 Numericalvalues ofgrosstypes 166
52 Hierarchyoffeaturesbasedonnumberofgrosstypesperstock 167
53 Hierarchyof featuresbasedonnumberofgrosstypesperarea 167
54 Conformityto majoritytypewithingroups 171
55 Valence-changingdirectionalitiesexhibitedbygroups 174
Tables xi
Conformitytopreferencefor valenceincrease("+"),
decrease orbothwithingroups
Conformitytopreferencefor A-affectingorO-affecting
valencechanges
Inclusive/exclusive:Departuresfrommodaltype
Inalienablepossession:Departuresfrommodaltype
Nounclasses:Departuresfrommodaltype
Meansandfrequenciesofhead/dependentmarkingand
complexity,byarea
Dominantalignmentbyarea
Distributionsrequiredfor significanceonthetestof
Dryer 1989a
Significancelevelsfordifferenceinfrequency ofH/Dtype
andalignment,byareaandtypeofarea
Languageswithhighlevelsofcomplexity
Averagerangeanddegreeofcomplexitybykindofarea
Levelsofsignificancefor wordorderdifferences
Inclusive/exclusiveoppositions
Numberandpercentoflanguageshavingnounclasses,byarea
Numberoflanguageshavingnumeralclassifiers,byarea
Significancelevelsfor arealdifferencesinfrequency ofnoun
classesandnumeralclassifiers
Pluralityneutralization
Inalienablepossession
NumberoflanguageshavingPP's,byarea
Globalclines
Significancelevelsfor arealdifferencesinfrequencyofthree
clinallydistributedproperties
Meanhead/dependentproportions,inrankorder
Likeness:Analysis 1
Nearness:Analysis 1
Likeness:Analysis 4
Nearness:Analysis4
Summaryofcorrelationsbetweenandwithinareas(12areas)
Summaryofcorrelationsbetweenandwithinareas(7areas)
Occurrenceofhighandlowlikenessandnearnessvalues
Propensityfor affinity,indecreasingorder
Percentageoftypesbyarea
Instanceswhere arealfrequenciesareonestandarddeviation
ormorefromthemean
xii Tables
88 Geneticdensitiesofsampleareas 233
89 Arealmeansfor percentageoflanguagesshowingspecified
featurevalues (referencevalues), andabsolutedistanceof
thatpercentagefrom50% 238
90 Arealmeansfor percentageoflanguagesshowingmodal
featurevalues, andabsolutedistanceofthatpercentage
from33%or50% 240
91 Diversityinhead/dependentmarking 242
92 Diversityinalignment 243
93 Complexity anddiversityofcomplexitybyarea 244
94 Diversityinwordorder 245
95 Three measuresoftherelativediversityofmacroareasand
setsofresidualor spreadzones 248
96 Correlationsinarealfrequencies 257
Acknowledgments
Work on the structure and history of languages of the USSR, including
fieldwork onChechen-Ingush, hasbeenmadepossiblebyresearchinthe
USSR, supported by the International Research and Exchanges Board
(1979/80, 1981, 1984, 1989).Iamgratefulto Moscow State University,
the Linguistics Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (Moscow),
Tbilisi State University, the Oriental Institute of the Georgian Academy
of Sciences, the Linguistics Institute of the Georgian Academy of Sci¬
ences,Groznyj StateUniversity,the DaghestanFilialofthe Soviet Acad¬
emy of Sciences (Makhachkala), and the Archeological Institute of the
Soviet Academy of Sciences (Moscow) for research affiliation at these
various times.
Data collection and analysis in the languages of Australia and New
Guinea, and the conceptual turning point where Icame to see linguistic
diversity as the focus of this project andthe key to linguistic prehistory,
were made possible by a visiting fellowship in the Department of Lin¬
guistics(Faculties),AustralianNationalUniversity,in1989.
Libraryworkandpreliminaryanalysisweremadepossiblebysabbatical
leave from the Universityof California, Berkeley, and aHumanitiesRe¬
searchGrantfromtheCollegeofLettersandScienceinthefallof1988and
aMellonGrantinAidfromtheCenterfor SlavicandEastEuropeanStud¬
ies, University of California, Berkeley, in the spring of 1989. Biblio¬
graphicalresearchassistancehasbeensupportedbytheCenter,andother
support,includingtheall-importantfundingforpurchaseofcomputerand
software,hascomefromthe CommitteeonResearchofthe Universityof
California,Berkeley.TheStatisticalConsultingServiceoftheDepartment
xiii
xiv Acknowledgments
ofStatistics,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,hasbeenofassistanceon
severaloccasions.EurekaCartographyproducedmap 1,andPopeGraphic
Arts Centerproducedfigure 3.
Overthepastfewyearsanumberofcolleaguesandfriendshavegener¬
ously helped me with information about the structures and classification
oflanguages,copiesofunpublishedwork, commentsondrafts,andother
formsofscholarly support. Mysincerethanks toRobertAusterlitz,How¬
ardBerman,JoanBybee,LyleCampbell,GrevCorbett,BobDixon,Mat¬
thew Dryer,Mark Durie,Nick Evans, BillFoley,Thomas Gamkrelidze,
OrinGensler,IvesGoddard,VictorGolla,JeffHeath,LeanneHinton,Gary
Holland, Larry Hyman, BillJacobsen, Jim Kari,Terry Kaufman, Alek-
sandr Kibrik, Andrei Kibrik, G.A. Klimov, Randy LaPolla, Francesca
Merlan, Larry Morgan, Volodja Plungjan, RichRhodes, Bruce Rigsby,
Olga Romanova, PhilRose, Alan Rumsey, MartinSchwartz, Alan Tim-
berlake,RobertVanValin,KenWhistler,DavidWilkins,TonyWoodbury,
andtwoanonymousreferees.Noneofthesepeoplenecessarilyagreeswith
allof my conclusions. Errors inthe interpretation, coding, and entry of
grammatical informationinthe database are inevitable,andthese are my
responsibility.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge a more general debt of gratitude to
all authors of descriptive grammars. It is their work that makes cross-
linguisticresearchpossible.
May 1991 JohannaNichols
Berkeley