[Lingtyp] language typology, linguistic typology, comparative linguistics

[Randy J. LaPolla]

Hi All,
I am with Nick on this question, but I am writing to respond to something Sebastian said:

> Arguably, grammatical descriptions do not fall within the scope of LT
> proper (they cover only one language), but still, they seem to be
> associated very closely with typological research questions.

I would argue that they are very much a part of typology, particularly if typology is about diversity, as I think it should be. Think of how Dixon’s Dyirbal  or other grammars have changed the way we think about language and enlarged the scope of typology. This may ruffle some feathers, but I personally have said, and recommend to my students, that anyone can make a very solid long lasting contribution to typology describing a single language, but it is much harder to make such a solid contribution, particularly for students, doing a large scale comparative project with second-hand data on languages one does not know (though of course that is not to negate good studies of that type that have been done—I am just saying it is more difficult).

Randy
-----
Randy J. LaPolla, PhD FAHA （羅仁地）
Professor of Linguistics and Chinese, School of Humanities 
Nanyang Technological University
HSS-03-45, 14 Nanyang Drive | Singapore 637332
http://randylapolla.net/ <http://randylapolla.net/>
Most recent book:
https://www.routledge.com/The-Sino-Tibetan-Languages-2nd-Edition/LaPolla-Thurgood/p/book/9781138783324 <https://www.routledge.com/The-Sino-Tibetan-Languages-2nd-Edition/LaPolla-Thurgood/p/book/9781138783324>

> On 28 Feb 2018, at 3:38 PM, Sebastian Nordhoff <sebastian.nordhoff at glottotopia.de> wrote:
> 
> On 02/28/2018 08:00 AM, Dan I. SLOBIN wrote:
>> The first issue of *Linguistic Typology* (1997: 1(1)) provides a definition
>> which I still find sufficient and satisfying:
>> 
>> *Linguistic Typology **publishes original research on the diversity of
>> languages [...]
> 
> Since Martin's Twitter profile states that he is a "diversity linguist",
> I was wondering what the semantic relation between "Linguistic Typology"
> and "Diversity Linguistics" is or would be. Are there areas which are
> part of one but not the other? Is one a subset of the other?
> 
> Arguably, grammatical descriptions do not fall within the scope of LT
> proper (they cover only one language), but still, they seem to be
> associated very closely with typological research questions.
> 
> From my interactions with the ALT folks, I would say that these are all
> people who value diversity, think that diversity is interesting,
> important, and should be preserved. This says nothing about the
> scientific enterprise of "typology", but some "anthropology of science"
> might still represent an interesting aspect here: who are the
> practicioners, what are their values, how do they interact with each
> other? One thing I find particularly funny about typological conferences
> is that everybody wears T-shirts, flipflops (or occasionally no shoes at
> all), and that that is completely fine. Compare this for instance with
> Romance studies in Germany, where the dress code is completely different.
> 
> The anthropological "community of practice" will surely not provide an
> intensional definition of What We Do; still, this might actually be
> quite an important point of distinguishing typology from other subfields
> of linguistics.
> 
> Best wishes
> Sebastian
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