definition of typology

[ianm at BERKELEY.EDU]

Hi Yuri and all,

My one-line definition of linguistic typology is that it
is the effort to comprehend the range of variation among
human languages and the limits on that variation, and thence
to seek to understand why certain patterns are frequent and
others rare or absent.


>     Dear Typology colleagues, reading journals on typology I came to a
> conclusion that different linguists and editors understand typology in
> their own way. It especially concerns editors who may return a
> manuscript on the pretext that it is not on typology. Therefore, it
> occurred to me to discuss the term "typology" in order to realise how
> it is understood in modern linguistics. Looking forward to receiving
> your definitions to yutamb at mail.ru  Yours sincerely Yuri Tambovtsev

Ian Maddieson
Department of Linguistics
MSC 03-2130
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131-1196