语言类型学:传统、现代与当代

Linguistic typology:Traditional, modern and contemporary trends

语言类型学不同于生成语言学和功能语言学之处在于其研究方法而不是研究宗旨。语言类型学自其诞生以来就以跨语言比较的方法寻求语言之间的共性与个性为研究范式。但传统语言类型学主要是分类学意义上的,在对语言何以如此的理论解释方面乏善可陈。格林伯格的研究标志着现代语言类型学的诞生,它以追求人类语言各范畴或形式之间的蕴含关系为目标,由此告别了传统语言类型学的研究思路。当代语言类型学由于现代技术的推动,在大规模语言样本库、语料库、数据库以及规则库等领域取得长足进展,研究方法上也更具时代特色。

Language typology differs from generative linguistics and functional linguistics in research methods rather than research purposes.Linguistic typology has been pursuing crosslinguistic universals and individualities among languages.However,the traditional linguistic typology mainly takes a taxonomic approach,without setting foot in accounting for language fact.Greenberg’s work,taking a different approach from traditional linguistic typology,marks the birth of modern linguistic typology,aiming to pursue the implication of various categories or forms of human language.Modern linguistic typology has made great progress in the field of large-scale language sample database,corpus,and rule database,highlighting its contemporary approach.