Language Typology and Gendered Speech Notes

Language Typology

  • Language encodes concepts in different ways:
    • Lexical: Single words encode multiple concepts.
    • Conceptual groups are visible in word categories.
    • Grammatical: Concepts are indicated via morphology and affixation.
    • Phrasal: Concepts are indicated via syntax.

Typology

  • The study of different systems of grammatical and other levels of organization.
    • Examples include:
      • Word order typology.
      • Morphosyntactic synthesis.
      • Numeric bases.
      • Grammatical gender.
  • Involves cross-cultural comparison.
  • Focuses on empirically testable claims.
  • Weighted by language, not speakers, to give a better-balanced representation to types.

Word Order Typology

  • Examines the order of verb and participants (subject, object, etc.) in a sentence.
  • Looks at conventions within languages regarding the order of subject, verb, and object (SVO).
  • Analyzes how word order indicates relationships between sentence elements.
  • Common constituent orders and their prevalence:
    • SVO (Subject-Verb-Object): 35%
    • SOV (Subject-Object-Verb): 41%
    • VSO (Verb-Subject-Object): 7%
    • No preference: 14%

Morphosyntactic Typology

  • Degree of synthesis:
    • Analytic / Isolating languages: words have a 1:1 morpheme-to-word ratio.
    • Agglutinative: words have affixes, each with one function.
    • Fusional: some affixes indicate multiple functions.
  • The terminology (isolating vs. synthesis) can be problematic but provides useful frameworks.

Isolating Languages

  • Have a 1:1 morpheme-to-word ratio.
  • Example: Mandarin
    • Tā \, chī \, fàn \, le
    • He eat meal PAST
    • ‘He has eaten a meal’
    • Tā \, chī \, le \, fàn
    • he eat PAST meal
    • ‘He ate a meal’
    • Tā \, tiāntān \, bu \, xǐzǎo.
    • 3sg daily NEG bathe
    • ‘Every day she does not bathe.’
    • Tā \, bu \, tiāntān \, xǐzǎo.
    • 3sg NEG daily bathe
    • ‘She does not bathe every day.’

Synthesizing Languages

  • Expression of concepts through morphological complexity.
  • Includes agglutinative and fusional systems.

Agglutinative Systems

  • Words have affixes, each with one function.
  • Example: Japanese
    • gakusei-wa \, homer-are-na-i
    • student-TOPIC praise-PASS-NEG-PRESENT
    • ‘The student is not praised’
  • Example: Turkish
    • køj
    • village
    • køjler
    • village-PL
    • køjlerin
    • village-PL-GEN

Fusional Systems

  • Co-expression of multiple concepts in single morphemes.
  • Example: Kewa (Franklin 1971)
    • íri-b-e
    • cook-INCEPTIVE-1.SG.PERF.EGOCENTRIC
    • ‘I have begun cooking it’
    • íra-paa-ru
    • cook-COMPLETIVE-1.SG.PST.ALTROCENTRIC
    • ‘I finished cooking it (for someone)’
    • íra-wa-de
    • cook-1SG.PST.EGOCENTRIC-PUNCTILIAR
    • ‘I cooked it’

Shifting Types Over Time

  • Grammaticalization: formerly independent words reduce to prefixes or suffixes.
  • Fusion: formerly independent affixes merge into single morphemes.
  • Typological cycle: ISOLATING -> AGGLUTINATIVE -> FUSIONAL (grammaticization, erosion, fusion).

Morphosyntactic Maps

  • Fusion in English is exemplified by the verb conjugation (e.g., I read vs. She reads).
  • Synthesis of verb forms.
  • See http://wals.info/chapter/22.

Typology of Numerals

  • Numeral: a symbol that represents an amount (or number) (e.g., 1, 2, 3).
    • 'one', 'two', 'three' are spoken numerals.

Simple Numeral

  • Expresses an amount with a single morpheme (e.g., seven, ten, hundred).

Complex Numeral

  • A numeral with morphological and/or syntactic complexity (e.g., seventeen, sixty).

Numeric Base

  • A specific number that orients a counting system.
  • Languages vary by the value of their numeric base and which numerals are simple vs. complex.

Decimal (Base-10) Systems

  • TEN is an organizing principle for larger amounts.
  • Simple lexical unit for each numeral between one and ten.
  • Complex words for multiples of ten (e.g., forty, fifty, ninety).
  • Words that lexicalize 'ten tens' (hundred: ten × ten).
  • Simple lexical item for exponents of ten (e.g., hundred, thousand).
  • Complex expressions for multiples of ten (e.g. forty = four x ten, fifty = five x ten, ninety = nine x ten).
  • Hundred = ten x ten, thousand = ten x ten x ten.
  • Complexity for most numbers > base:
    • twenty = two × ten
    • twenty-one = two × ten + one
    • twenty-two = two × ten + two
  • Special patterns within 11-19:
    • eleven = beyond by.one
    • twelve = two beyond
    • thirteen = three over.ten
    • nineteen = nine over.ten

Other Decimal Systems

  • Spanish, French:
    • 53 = two × ten + three (cincuante y trés / cinqante-trois)
    • 11 = one + ten (once / onze)
    • doce / douze, trece / treize, catorce / quatorze
    • 17 = ten + seven (diecisiete / dix-sept)
  • Indonesian:
    • 2 = dua, 7 = tujuh, 10 = sepuluh
    • 11 = sebelas, 17 = tujuh belas
    • 23 = dua puluh tiga, 27 = dua puluh tujuh

Octal (Base-8) Systems

  • Pame (Avelino 2005):
    • 1 = sante, 2 = nuji, 3 = rnuʔ, 4 = giriui, 5 = gitʃ’ai, 6 = teria, 7 = teriuhiɲ, 8 = tenhiuɲ
    • 9 = kara tenhiuɲ santa, 10 = kara tenhiuɲ nuji, 11 = kara tenhiuɲ rnup, 12 = kara tenhiuɲ giriu, 13 = kara tenhiuɲ gitʃ'ai, 14 = kara tenhiuɲ teria, 15 = kara tenhiuɲ teriuhiɲ, 16 = kanuje tenhiuɲ
    • karnuʔ tenhiuɲ rnuʔ = (3 × 8) + 3 = 27

Vigesimal (Base-20) Systems

  • Basque, Chukchi
    • klgn-qlekken \, mngtkn \, ŋireq \, parol
    • fifteen-twenty ten two left
    • (15 × 20) + (10 + 2) = 312
  • Iñupiaq
  • tallimat ‘five’ (taliq = ‘arm’)
  • iñuiññaq ‘twenty’
  • akimiaq piŋasut ‘fifteen-three’ = ‘eighteen’
  • https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-number-system- invented-by-inuit-schoolchildren-will-make-its-silicon-valley- debut/

Other Bases

  • Base 4: Chumash
  • Base 6: Kanum
  • Base 12: Birom, Kobon
  • Base 60: Ekari, Sumerian

Typology of Numeral Systems

  • Bases have somatic / commercial origins.
  • Vast majority of systems are decimal.
  • “skew” tells us something beyond culture.
  • http://wals.info/feature/131A#2/25.5/146.1

Typology of Gender

  • Gender in language relates to classification systems, biological and socially constructed traits.
  • These can include behavior, roles, trades, dress, and speech.
  • Reflected in linguistic patterns, words, word classes, speaker classes.

Gender and Language

  • Semantic meaning is arbitrary (not static) and language- and culture-specific (constructed).
  • Words with lexicalized gender (woman, man, daughter, son; she, he) have constructed semantics.

Gender Classification

  • Word classification can be based on male/female, animate/inanimate, with additional nuances.
  • Much classification is emergent and not created with social meaning/organization as a goal.
  • Nevertheless, a gendered behavior takes on index.
  • Grammatical gender: classification of nouns with similar grammatical behavior. It may partly emerge from semantics.

Semantic Assignment

  • Membership can be predictable with sex-based gender like in Kannada (Dravidian, SW India).

Masculine/Feminine

  • Humans, some deities
  • appa (father), candra (moon) / amma (mother)

Neuter

  • Infants, dogs, etc.
Gun-Wok (NT Australia)
  • masc:
    • male humans, most animates, compass points, trade items, rain, paint tools
  • fem:
    • female higher animates, sun
  • vegetable:
    • plants, food, songs, fire, vehicles
  • neuter:
    • landmasses, body parts, weather, time, languages
Semantic Residue
  • Non-sex-based: animate/inanimate; animate/vegetative/not-alive. This also constitutes semantic residue.
  • Some semantic residue appears in other genders, deriving from personification/mythology/history/narratives, loss of categories (e.g., Spanish, Ukrainian).
  • http://wals.info/chapter/32
  • Evidence for gender classification:
    • Form: morphology of word (e.g., Latin luna vs sol).
    • Agreement: form of other words (e.g., German der Mond vs die Sonne).
    • Both agreement and form (sometimes) e.g., Spanish la luna vs el sol.
    • Neither agreement nor form (e.g., English the moon, the sun).
  • Gender agreement in Ukrainian:

Examples

  • a. Žurnal leža-v na stoli. (magazine lay.m on table) ‘The magazine lay on the table.’
  • b. Knɨha leža-la na stoli. (book lay.f on table) ‘The book lay on the table.’
  • c. Poslannja leža-lo na stoli. (letter lay.n on table) ‘The letter lay on the table.’
  • Gender agreement in Fulfude (Senegal):
    • a. nɛɗɗɔ ˀɔ (person def.’o) ‘the person’
    • b. ɲiiwa ba (elephant def.ba) ‘the elephant’
    • c. laana ka (boat def.ka) ‘the boat’
    • d. lekki ki (tree def.ki) ‘the tree’

Typological Maps

  • Sex basis - http://wals.info/chapter/31
  • Number of genders - http://wals.info/chapter/30
  • Classes of gendered words:
    • Nouns and pronouns (Spanish, Swahili).
    • Just pronouns (English, Japanese).
    • No grammatical gender (Finnish, Hawaiian).
  • Grammatical gender ≠ lexical gender
  • mare, stallion in English have semantic but not grammatical gender
  • some grammatical gender systems have no sex basis
  • gender systems have grammatical functions

Grammar & Identity

  • when grammatical gender and identity are at odds?
  • male-default sexism
  • non-binary referents
Male-default Sexism
  • generic he / los / ils etc
  • English solution: they
  • Spanish / French etc: neopronouns (elle, iel)
  • todos los amigos / tous les amis
  • novel endings todes les amiges, todxs lxs amigxs
  • Extensible to non-binary individuals

Origins of Gendered Language

  • Q: Where does gendered language come from?
    • A1: grammatical categories emerge from very robust/frequent phrases (or constructions)
    • A2: interaction with other dimensions of stratification (enregisterment & indexation)

Grammaticization

  • aka grammaticalization
  • the development of functional/grammatical units out of what earlier were full words

Gender in Dyirbal (Dixon 1982)

  • Every noun has a classifier:
    • bayi: (human) males; animals
    • balan: (human) females; water; fire; fighting
    • balam: non-flesh food
    • bala: everything not in the other classes
Examples
  • bayi: Men, kangaroos, possums, bats, most snakes, most fishes, some birds, most insects, the moon, storms, rainbows, boomerangs, some spears
    • bayi \, yaɽa \, baŋgu \, gurugugu \, biŋgun-man.
    • Booze is making the man tired.
    • bayi \, midin \, baŋgun \, bimaŋgu \, banɟan.
    • The death adder is following the possum.
  • balan: Women, bandicoots, dogs, platypus, echidna, some snakes, some fishes, most birds, fireflies, scorpions, crickets, anything connected with water or fire, sun and stars, shields, some spears, some trees, etc.
    • balan \, yabu \, baŋgul \, yaɽaŋgu \, guliŋgu \, ŋunɟaɲu.
    • The strong man is blaming the mother.
    • balan \, malayigara \, baŋgu \, garandu \, biŋgun-man.
    • The smoke is making the scorpion tired.
  • balam: All edible fruit and the plants that bear them, tubers, ferns, honey, cigarettes, wine, cake
  • bala: Parts of the body, meat, bees, wind, yamsticks, some spears, trees, grass, mud, stones, noises, language, etc.
    • bala \, garan \, baŋgul \, biɲɟiriɲɟu \, banɟan.
    • The lizard is following the smoke.
    • bala \, yila \, wura \, baŋgul \, bargandu \, biŋgundu \, guniɲu.
    • The tired wallaby is searching for the little feather.

Typology of Gendered Speech

  • Gender as in male/female speech
    • gradient differences in some societies
    • e.g., pitch in European / Western cultures
    • M/F overlap , but mean/median differs
    • categorical differences in some societies
    • M/F mostly overlap , except for subset of words or constructions
  • Overlap of agreement / gendered LG

Arabic Verbs Agree in Gender 3rd and 2nd Person

  • 2sg masc 2sg fem
    • katabta \, katabti
    • write
    • kasarta \, kasarti
    • break
    • baʕaθta \, baʕaθti
    • send
    • dafaʕta \, dafaʕti
    • push
    • waʤadta \, waʤadti
    • find
    • naẓarta \, naẓarti
    • see
    • ḥamalta \, ḥamalti
    • carry
    • ḍarabta \, ḍarabti
    • strike

Ukrainian Past Tense Agreement

  • \text{ja spav}
    • ‘I slept’ (masc)
  • \text{ja spala}
    • ‘I slept’ (fem)
  • \text{mɨ spali}
    • ‘We slept’

Gendered Forms in Chukchi (E. Siberia)

  • female sp. male sp.
    • \text{ʃamkiʃʃɪn} \quad \text{ramkɪchɪn}
      • 'people'
    • \text{ʃumnata} \quad \text{chumnata}
      • 'by a buck'
    • \text{nitvaqenat} \quad \text{nitvaqaat}
      • 'youngest daughter'
    • \text{tirkitir} \quad \text{tirkiir}

Gendered Forms in Yana (California)

  • female sp. male sp.
    • \text{mo'i̥} \quad \text{mo'i}
      • ‘eat’
    • \text{imampḁ} \quad \text{imamba}
      • ‘deer liver’
    • \text{mal'ku̥} \quad \text{mal'gu}
      • ‘ear’
    • \text{'i} \quad \text{'ina}
      • ‘stick’
    • \text{ya} \quad \text{yana}
      • ‘person’
    • \text{t'usi} \quad \text{t'usi'i}
      • ‘he will do’
    • \text{nisak'u} \quad \text{nisaku'i}
      • ‘he might go away’
    • \text{momauk'i} \quad \text{momauk'i'a}
      • ‘he eats someone's food’

Gendered forms in Koasati

  • female sp. male sp.
    • \text{lakawwã} \quad \text{lakawwas}
      • ‘he will lift it’
    • \text{lakawtakkõ} \quad \text{lakawtakkos}
      • ‘I am not lifting it’
    • \text{tacilwan} \quad \text{tacilwas}
      • ‘don't sing!’
    • \text{iltocihnon} \quad \text{iltocihnos}
      • ‘don't work!’

Origins of Gendered Language

  • Q: Where does gendered language come from?
    • A1: grammatical categories emerge from very robust/frequent phrases (or constructions)
    • A2: interaction with other dimensions of stratification (enregisterment & indexation)

Emergence of Gendered Speech

  • Innovation: New variant word or pronunciation.
  • Enregisterment of index: New variant becomes associated with some group.

Interactions With Other Styles

  • Honorific systems: Form reflects relative status.
Japanese
  • Correlation between formality & gender
    • less more
      • \text{hara} \quad \text{onaka}
        • 'stomach'
      • \text{mizu} \quad \text{ohiya}
        • 'water'
      • \text{umai} \quad \text{oisii}
        • 'delicious'
      • \text{kuu} \quad \text{taberu}
        • 'eat'
Javanese (Austronesia, Java Indonesia) Styles
  • ngoko: familiar or to-inferior
  • kromo: unfamiliar or to-superior
  • ka vs ki
  • husbands and wives use different styles
  • khik 'younger sister'
  • mas 'older brother'
Malagasy (Austronesian, Madagascar)
  • resaka indirect
  • kabary even more indirect (ritualized, status enhancing, male only)

Recap

  • Grammatical gender types: zero / pronouns only / pronouns and nouns
  • Animacy and/or m/f, plus additional degrees
  • Gendered variation: typically bundled with other dimensions, independent of grammatical gender