New Book - Typology

[Jae Jung Song]

Book announcement:


LINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY: Morphology and Syntax

By Jae Jung Song
Pearson Education: Harlow and London

August 2000, 406pp
ISBN 0-582-31220-5 (Hardback) £60.00
ISBN 0-582-31221-3 (Paperback) £19.99


There are generally estimated to be about 4,000 to 6,000 languages in the
world. This number alone gives us an idea of the immense diversity of
languages of the world, but despite their differences, there also has to be
an underlying unity to human languages.

Linguistic typology is the study of the structural variation within human
language with a view to establishing limits on this variation and seeking
explanations for the limits. In this volume, Jae Jung Song uses data from a
wide range of languages to provide an up-to-date critical introduction to
linguistic typology. Focusing on major topics ranging from basic word order
to causative constructions, the book demonstrates how systematic patterns
can be uncovered, and limits on, and explanations for, these systematic
patterns can be sought and formulated. Practical and methodological issues
such as data collection and language sampling are also discussed, as well
as the application of linguistic typology and a brief survey of major
European approaches to linguistic typology.

_Linguistic Typology_ will be essential reading for students involved in
linguistic typology and language universals, comparative morphology and
syntax, historical linguistics, first or second language acquisition, and
language and cognition.

Jae Jung Song is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of
Otago, New Zealand.

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