Typology & Universals

Seminar - Prof. Dr. Claudia Lange

Studying a foreign language necessarily involves comparison: where are similarities, where are differences in the structural properties of the native and the foreign language? Although the world’s languages display a bewildering array of diversity at a first glance, there is also a basic unity in their core properties. Discovering, classifying and explaining the extent to which languages share certain characteristics is the aim of linguistic typology. We will first get to know the basic typological terms and tools and then examine some structural properties of English from a typological perspective. We will then consider several universals that have been proposed, such as vernacular universals, ‘Angloversals’, and universals of second language acquisition.

When: Thu 4.DS

Where: W48/004