Karsten Schmidtke-Bode, Natalia Levshina, Susanne Maria Michaelis, Ilja A. Seržant (Eds.). Explanation in Typology. Diachronic Sources, Functional Motivations and the Nature of the Evidence

Abstract

The present volume addresses a foundational issue in linguistic typology, viz. crosslinguistic generalizations andhow they should be explained.More precisely, it discusses to what extent statistical universals of linguistic structure can be accounted for by so-called “source-oriented”, mutational explanations, i. e. constraints on language change, or by “result-oriented”, functional-adaptive principles, i. e. forces leading to preferred structural types that facilitate communication and language processing for speakers and hearers. Unlike previous volumes in a similar vein (e. g. Hawkins 1988; Good 2008), the debate in this volume takes place entirely within the functional, usage-based camp. Even so, Explanation in Typology is a major contribution to typology and general linguistics and will be of great interest to any linguist keen to engage with the nature of linguistic universals, regardless of their theoretical position. After the table of contents, the book starts with an introduction by Karsten Schmidtke-Bode outlining the aim and structure of the volume and briefly summarizing each of the subsequent chapters. This is followed by nine research papers by Martin Haspelmath, Sonia Cristofaro, Jeremy Collins, Matthew S. Dryer, Holger Diessel, Karsten Schmidtke-Bode, Ilja A. Seržant, Susanne Maria Michaelis, and Natalia Levshina, as well as a concluding chapter by Karsten Schmidtke-Bode and Eitan Grossman. Separate indices of names, languages, and subjects round off the book. The volume can be downloaded for free at https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/220. Alternatively, each chapter can be downloaded separately. Print-on-demand options are available, too. The first research article is a programmatic paper in which Martin Haspelmath addresses some terminological issues and provides an overview of causal factors for linguistic universals, including functional-adaptive and mutational constraints. Crucially, both explanations involve language change, but in the former, change only serves to fulfill the functional adaptation, whereas in the latter, change itself is the causal factor. Haspelmath acknowledges the importance of mutational constraints in certain cases, but generally favors functional-adaptive explanations.