Typology and Universals

Abstract

The goals of typology and comparative historical linguistics are very different, however, although the results of each are essential to the other. A descriptive typology leads to generalizations that constrain how much languages can vary; those generalizations are language universals. Hence the primary focus on universals in the typological tradition has been on their crosslinguistic validity, and on universals that restrict language variation. Reference grammars continue to have great value for typological research. In order to discover language universals, a typologist compares how function is encoded in linguistic form. The semantic map model is a powerful tool for identifying language universals and separating language universals from the arbitrary aspects of crosslinguistic variation. Language universals are the result of universal cognitive and social interactional forces that shape speakers’ choices at all timescales, from the immediate discourse situation to the lifetime of a speaker to the transmission of language across generations.