Borja Herce

Linguistic typology stands to gain significantly from advances in the use of extremely large, high-quality and reusable datasets. However, our ability to secure these gains depends on the availability of precise and comparable machine-readable data. Here we identify the challenges and opportunities ahead. We introduce the DeAR principles (Decentralized, Automatically verified, Revisable), designed to guide and assist researchers to create diverse, high-resolution and robust datasets. We demonstrate the DeAR principles in action through the example of Paralex, a data standard (i.e., set of scientific conventions) developed collaboratively for lexicons of morphologically inflected forms. Our proposals aim to foster a more resilient and equitable infrastructure for the future of linguistic research.

Traditional linguistic atlases can be leveraged to investigate the dynamics of language diversification and change but are severely underexploited for this purpose. Here we present a cleaned up and augmented dataset derived from the AIS (Swiss-Italian Atlas) which allows us to explore the amount of innovation at different linguistic levels (lexicon vs. phonology), and the geographic, societal, and evolutionary factors predicting the amount of change in different varieties. Results point towards a significant correlation in the speed of lexical and phonological change, as well as the greater relevance of extralinguistic variables (most importantly population size) to predict lexical innovation.

This paper explores diachronic changes in Judeo-Spanish verb stem alternation patterns compared to Old Spanish. Relying on nearly 9000 verbal tokens from the CoDiaJE corpus, we find out that, while the ones known as L-pattern and PYTA have remained remarkably stable over the last 500 years, the N-pattern has undergone much more change. N-patterns, and their morphological correlate diphthongization, have been disappearing fast in some varieties (e.g. Istanbul) but not in others (Salonika), which might relate to the intensity and type of language contact in different locations. We also explore and discuss the predictive role of factors like conjugation membership and frequency to explain which verbs undergo levelling and which ones retain stem alternation.

For many years, the uncontested opinion in the field has been that there is not an empirical linguistic difference, but rather a societal one, between dialects and languages. Recently, however, it has been reported that distances between linguistic varieties are typically bimodal, suggesting that a classification into language vs. dialect might not be exclusively a social construct. Here, I review these papers and attempt to replicate them with a larger and more suitable dataset from Romance languages. Results fail to reveal any empirically salient boundary between languages and dialects. A look at other language families supports this conclusion. Simulations suggest that the distribution of linguistic distances in a family is primarily driven by its phylogenetic structure, with no additional mechanisms needed beyond vertical and horizontal diversification.

While the morphological phenomena of syncretism and inflection classes have been extensively studied separately, their interaction remains underexplored. Here I present a typology, and a cross-linguistic exploration, of the diversity of morphological syncretism patterns and their complexity in inflectional paradigms. I propose several easy-to-obtain measures of syncretism complexity and I analyze a sample of both related and unrelated inflectional systems to find out about two seemingly incompatible types of syncretism complexity in the world’s languages.

Many word forms from different classes in Central Pame (cent2145, Otomanguean) allow two synonymous forms, one containing a prefix with the vowel /a/ and another one with /u/ (e.g. wa-ttsáuʔ ~ wu-ttsáuʔ ‘(s)he feels’). I conduct historical corpus research and elicitation to throw light on the diachronic origin and contemporary profile of this unusual phenomenon. Evidence suggests that it started as a sound change /a/ > /u/ between bilabial consonants. However, paradigmatic pressures have largely dismantled the original distribution of allomorphy synchronically, generalizing free variation (i.e. overabundance). In addition, other phonological and morphosyntactic cues have emerged for the probabilistic prediction of these allomorphies. The case provides an extraordinary window into the cognitive underpinnings of sound change, allomorphy, and the paradigm in a highly-inflecting and understudied language.

Central Pame verbal inflection constitutes a system whose organization is strikingly complex, with dozens of inflection classes distributed syntagmatically across multiple positions in a word: prefix, suffix, stem, and tone. This paper presents the first thorough description of this understudied system and investigates every layer and subsystem in detail and how they relate to each other, concluding that, in this distributed-exponence system, syntagmatic predictability relations between subsystems are fundamental

Morphological complexity metrics like entropy, and notions like the Paradigm Cell-Filling Problem, have recently (re)gained popularity for the synchronic analysis of inflectional systems. The potential of these quantitative approaches for diachronic research, however, remains largely untapped. This paper constitutes a first exploration of whether and, if so, how these methods can be used profitably in this domain. We first use Romance, for which we have rich historical knowledge, to establish the diagnostic value of complexity metrics for phylogenetic relatedness under a best-case scenario. We then apply these methods to Pamean (Otomanguean, Mexico) to show that the same metrics help diagnose the phylogenetic relatedness of tenses and inflection classes even when, as is the case in this family, most of the morphological material has been replaced or altered beyond recognition. Results suggest that complexity metrics can successfully diagnose phylogenetic relatedness over extended periods of time and fruitfully complement traditional qualitative approaches.

Inflectional systems vary along multiple dimensions (number of members, size of paradigms, word class, integrative complexity, accidents of history, etc.). This makes it difficult to find significant correlations and causality relations between different properties, as attested systems usually differ in multiple ways at the same time, thus obscuring possible relations between individual variables. Here we analyze the relation between a system’s size by number of members and its morphological complexity. We do so by exploring in detail, via quantitative methods, the cognate inflectional systems of Central Pame and Chichimec (Otomanguean, Mexico), whose inflecting nominal classes differ precisely mostly with regard to their size (i.e. number of members).

Article Stephen C. Levinson: A Grammar of Yélî Dnye: The Papuan language of Rossel Island was published on October 30, 2024 in the journal Linguistic Typology (volume 0, issue 0).