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To do what Wolfgang Schulze is asking for, one would simply need<br>
<br>
(i) a representative selection of "the typological literature"<br>
(ii) a database that records every language that is dealt with in
each of these works<br>
<br>
As Joseph Farquarson notes, the World Atlas of Language Structures
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wals.info">http://wals.info</a>) comes close to this: It was intended to be
representative of large-scale typological work, and the WALS
database makes it easy to compute this ranking. See the list below
(the top 113 languages out of WALS's 2560 languages). (This is
somewhat out of date, because it's based on the 2005/2008 edition,
not the 2011 edition, but the trend is clear.)<br>
<br>
There are at least three important caveats here:<br>
<br>
(i) WALS is not representative of typological work as a whole – only
of large-scale typological work, covering more than 150 languages.
Much typological work discusses grammatical features at a depth that
is not possible with such large numbers of languages, because the
relevant information cannot be easily found in reference grammars. <br>
<br>
(ii) The WALS authors were explicitly given the instruction to try
to cover a core sample of 100 or 200 languages, so that the number
of languages treated in most chapters would be maximized (see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wals.info/languoid/samples/200">http://wals.info/languoid/samples/200</a>). So the top 200 languages of
the WALS Language Coverage List are probably largely due to this
instruction.<br>
<br>
(iii) As Silvia Kouwenberg notes, pidgins and creoles are not well
represented in WALS. This is because WALS is an atlas, and it was
intended first and foremost as a way of showing areal patterns.
Languages that arose due to long-distance migration over the last
few centuries (including languages such as Brazilian Portuguese or
Surinamese Hindustani) would confuse this areal pictures, so it was
(controversially) decided not to encourage their inclusion in WALS.<br>
<br>
Thus, we would need a more comprehensive database that does not show
these idiosyncrasies. Colin Masica is "surprised that this hasn't
been done", but this is not surprising at all – it would be quite
difficult to get funding for such an enterprise.<br>
<br>
Greetings,<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
Am 12/3/11 6:42 PM, schrieb Wolfgang Schulze:
<blockquote cite="mid:4EDA5F8E.3020101@lrz.uni-muenchen.de"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-15">
Dear friends,<br>
just a short (and maybe silly?) question: Is anybody aware of some
kind of statistics that considers to which extent the individual
languages of the world are dealt with in the typological
literature? It would be interesting to see where (and why !) there
are both lacunae and statistic 'peaks'. The issue could be refined
if one includes the classical linguistics domains such as
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics etc. Such a "World Atlas
of Linguistics Data" (just to give it a name) would not only help
motivating researchers to fill up lacunae, but also help
understanding what the reasons may be for certain preferences...<br>
Best wishes,<br>
Wolfgang<br>
</blockquote>
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<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">WALS Langage Coverage: <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Languages in WALS and
number of WALS features in which the language is considered <br>
(only languages that occur in more than 100 features out of 141)<br>
<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">English<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>139</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">French<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>136</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Finnish<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>135</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Russian<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>135</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Spanish<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>135</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Turkish<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>135</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hungarian<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>133</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Indonesian<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>133</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Japanese<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>130</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Mandarin<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>130</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Amele<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>129</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">German<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>129</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Greek (Modern)<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>129</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Lezgian<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>129</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Abkhaz<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>128</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Evenki<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>128</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Korean<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>128</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Persian<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>128</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Basque<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>127</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hausa<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>126</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Maori<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>126</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Georgian<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>125</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kannada<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>125</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Khalkha<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>125</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Malagasy<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>125</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Supyire<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>125</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hindi<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>124</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Tagalog<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>124</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Arabic (Egyptian)<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>123</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Greenlandic (West)<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>123</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hixkaryana<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>123</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Swahili<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>123</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Vietnamese<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>123</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Slave<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>122</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Burushaski<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Chamorro<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Chukchi<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Fijian<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hebrew (Modern)<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Lango<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Oromo (Harar)<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Thai<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Yaqui<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Zulu<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>121</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Maybrat<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>120</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Tukang Besi<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>120</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kanuri<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>119</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kayardild<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>119</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Mapudungun<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>119</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Yoruba<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>119</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Yukaghir (Kolyma)<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>119</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Burmese<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>118</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Krongo<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>118</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Mangarrayi<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>118</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Tiwi<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>118</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Guaraní<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>117</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Khoekhoe<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>117</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Meithei<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>117</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ngiyambaa<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>117</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ainu<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>115</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Jakaltek<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>115</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Lakhota<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>115</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Martuthunira<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>115</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Pirahã<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>115</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Wari'<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>115</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Lavukaleve<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>114</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Rapanui<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>114</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Alamblak<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>113</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Gooniyandi<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>113</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kutenai<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>113</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Mixtec (Chalcatongo)<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>113</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Awa Pit<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>112</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kobon<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>112</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Latvian<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>112</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Maricopa<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>112</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Imonda<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>111</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Apurinã<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>110</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Berber (Middle Atlas)<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>110</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Warao<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>110</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Canela-Krahô<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>109</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Nivkh<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>109</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Quechua (Imbabura)<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>108</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Rama<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>108</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Wichí<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>108</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Yagua<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>108</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Koromfe<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>107</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Bagirmi<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>106</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hunzib<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>106</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ingush<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>106</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Maung<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>106</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Epena Pedee<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>105</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ket<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>105</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Koasati<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>105</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Luvale<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>105</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Sango<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>105</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Iraqw<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>104</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kewa<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>104</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Sanuma<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>104</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Shipibo-Konibo<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>104</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ju|'hoan<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>103</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kilivila<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>103</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Nunggubuyu<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>103</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Asmat<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ewe<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Grebo<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Hmong Njua<span
style="mso-tab-count:
1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Khasi<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Khmer<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Kiowa<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Ndyuka<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Wichita<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>102</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Arapesh<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>101</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span lang="EN-GB">Oneida<span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>101</span></p>
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