Description

The distributions of languages, language families, and typological patterns are highly variable across the globe. Making sense of these constellations – understanding ‘what’s where why?’ (Bickel 2007: 239) – is a central concern for contemporary linguistic typology. This course focuses on exploring the how: How have languages been structured, maintained, and lost over time, as molded by the movements and interactions of peoples, aspects of human communication and cognition, sociocultural dynamics, and the interplay between synchronic structural features and diachronic processes?

In this two-day course, we investigate these drivers and their complex interactions from a cross-linguistic perspective. We consider ways in which typological features may structure processes of language change, and how in turn contact and change shape typological profiles. We explore how typological patterns may cross-cut genealogical associations, as related languages diverge structurally and unrelated languages converge, and how sociocultural practices may be implicated in these processes. Participants are encouraged to bring relevant data and research questions for workshopping sessions during the course.