Neo-Firthian Approaches to Linguistic Typology - William B. McGregor
Conclusions
Neo-Firthian Approaches to Linguistic Typology - William B. McGregor
William B. McGregor [+]
Aarhus University
Description
In this final chapter I overview how and where the contributions of typology to Neo-Firthian theories, and of the latter to the former, can be made, reiterating and expanding on why it is that typology is important to Neo-Firthian theories, including Systemic Functional Grammar. I also identify a selection of additional domains of typology for brief discussion in relation to Neo-Firthian theories, including: phonological typology, morphological typology, word order typology, lexical typology, typology of possession, typology of tense mood and aspect, semantic typology, and the typology of parts of speech systems. Finally, I discuss the relevance of a Neo-Firthian-inspired typology to linguistic theory, description, and documentation, diachronic linguistics (including grammaticalisation), and cognitive science – and here I comment critically on the claims of Evans and Levinson (2009) which apparently deny the existence of significant linguistic universals. Also dealt with in this chapter are explanations for typology and universals.