[Lingtyp] Diversity/dispersion of descriptive/typological knowledge by language

[Randy J. LaPolla]

Hi Juergen,
Relevant to this is work by Peter Trudgill on Sociolinguistic typology and the uniformitarian hypothesis. See the attached paper of his from a few years ago. I couldn’t find a publication reference for it, but it might be included in his Sociolinguistic Typology book.

All the best,
Randy
-----
Randy J. LaPolla, PhD FAHA （羅仁地）
Professor of Linguistics, with courtesy appointment in Chinese, School of Humanities 
Nanyang Technological University
HSS-03-45, 48 Nanyang Avenue| Singapore 639818
http://randylapolla.net/ <http://randylapolla.net/>
Most recent books:
The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd Edition (2017)
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>
Sino-Tibetan Linguistics (2018)
https://www.routledge.com/Sino-Tibetan-Linguistics/LaPolla/p/book/9780415577397 <https://www.routledge.com/Sino-Tibetan-Linguistics/LaPolla/p/book/9780415577397>



> On 4 Jan 2020, at 2:09 AM, Bohnemeyer, Juergen <jb77 at buffalo.edu> wrote:
> 
> Dear all — I was wondering whether anybody has attempted to quantify the extent of linguistic diversity in our knowledge of the languages of the world. I believe mathematically speaking the type of information I’m looking for is a frequency distribution. The question is to what extent are a handful of languages and language families overrepresented in our knowledge of the languages of the world whereas the vast majority of languages and language families are underrepresented. One can ask this question (i) about our descriptive knowledge of any and all languages and (ii) specifically about the typological literature. I’m most interested in (ii), but I’m guessing there’s more likely to be an answer to (i) (though I also realize that the odds of anybody having proposed an answer to either question without me having heard of it are not great). Anybody aware of such a study? Even relevant claims without empirical footing would be of interest. — Best — Juergen
> 
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor and Director of Graduate Studies 
> Department of Linguistics and Center for Cognitive Science 
> University at Buffalo 
> 
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