[Lingtyp] Areal and phylogenetic *researcher* biases

[Jeremy Bradley]

This doesn't really touch upon any guesstimates / numbers, but it 
strongly reminds me of the bias there esp. historically was in the 
description of differential object marking in Finnic languages (e.g. 
Finnish: /hän jo-i maido-n/ s/he drink-PST.3SG milk-ACC 's/he drank the 
milk' ~ /hän jo-i maito-a/ s/he drink-PST.3SG milk-PART 's/he drank 
(some) milk') before that was a salient analysis dimension. "This is 
clearly just a way to express definiteness", say scholars whose frame of 
reference is Germanic languages. "No, this is clearly just how verbal 
aspect is expressed in these languages", say scholars whose frame of 
reference is Slavic languages. I never encountered Hungarian scholars 
presenting a third option, that it's clearly just how Finnish verbalizes 
the difference between subjective and objective conjugation, but it 
would not shock me if that has happened too!

Best,
Jeremy

On 28/09/2024 20:17, Juergen Bohnemeyer via Lingtyp wrote:
>
> Dear all – I’m wondering whether anybody has attempted to estimate the 
> size of the following putative effect on descriptive and typological 
> research:
>
> Suppose there is a particular phenomenon in Language L, the known 
> properties of which are equally compatible with an analysis in terms 
> of construction types (comparative concepts) A and B.
>
> Suppose furthermore that L belongs to a language family and/or 
> linguistic area such that A has much more commonly been invoked in 
> descriptions of languages of that family/area than B.
>
> Then to the extent that a researcher attempting to adjudicate between 
> A and B wrt. L (whether in a description of L, in a typological study, 
> or in coding for an evolving typological database) is aware of the 
> prevalence of A-coding/analyses for languages of the family/area in 
> question, that might make them more likely to code/analyze L as 
> exhibiting A as well.
>
> So for example, a researcher who assumes languages of the family/area 
> of L to be typically tenseless may be influenced by this assumption 
> and as a result become (however slightly) more likely to treat L as 
> tenseless as well. In contrast, if she assumes languages of the 
> family/area of L to be typically tensed, that might make her ever so 
> slightly more likely to analyze L also as tensed.
>
> It seems to me that this is a cognitive bias related to, and possibly 
> a case of, essentialism. (And just as in the case of (other forms of) 
> essentialism, the actual cognitive causes/mechanisms of the bias may 
> vary.)
>
> But regardless, my question is, again, has anybody tried to guestimate 
> to what extent the results of current typological studies may be 
> warped by this kind of researcher bias? (Note that the bias may be 
> affecting both authors of descriptive work and typologists using 
> descriptive work as data, so there is a possible double-whammy effect.)
>
> Thanks! – Juergen
>
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> University at Buffalo
>
> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
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> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/ 
> <http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/>
>
> Office hours Tu/Th 3:30-4:30pm in 642 Baldy or via Zoom (Meeting ID 
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>
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> (Leonard Cohen)
>
> -- 
>
>
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-- 
Jeremy Bradley, Ph.D.
University of Vienna

http://www.mari-language.com
jeremy.moss.bradley at univie.ac.at

Office address:
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