Document Type
Article
Department/Program
Linguistics
Department
English
Journal Title
Linguistics Vanguard
Pub Date
4-13-2015
Publisher
De Gruyter
Volume
1
Issue
1
First Page
189
Abstract
This article presents an overview of the goals and methods of semantic typology, the study of the distribution of semantic categories across languages. Results from this field inform theoretical accounts of syntax-semantics interface phenomena, as well as the nature of the relationship between language and cognition. This article discusses a variety of quantitative methods that represent recent efforts in semantic typology to (i) discover patterns in the distribution of independent variables and (ii) predict the distribution of dependent variables in relation to identified independent variables. Such methods include Multi-Dimensional Scaling, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, and Generalized Linear Mixed Effects regression analyses. We identify and discuss notable published examples of these methods used in semantic typology.
Recommended Citation
Moore, Randi Elizabeth, Semantic typology: New approaches to crosslinguistic variation in language and cognition (2015). Linguistics Vanguard, 1(1), 189-200.
10.1515/lingvan-2015-1004
DOI
10.1515/lingvan-2015-1004
Included in
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons
