《语言共性和语言类型》是当代语言类型学的**部综合性导论著作，被广泛用作该学科的教科书，对当代语言类型学的发展起了极大的推动作用。《语言共性和语言类型》区别于一般导论教科书的特点是并非面面俱到，而是对某些有趣的论题作较为深入的探讨，因此可读性比较强，并可以从中学到更多实质性的分析和研究思路。此外，由于《语言共性和语言类型》举例丰富，也可以增强我国读者对语言多样性的认识，大大开阔视野。

After a period when the frontiers of linguistic research seemed to be concerned primarily with the analysis of English syntax, the last decade has seen a remarkable upsurge of interest in problems of language universals and linguistic typology using data from a wide range of languages. Despite the vast amount of work that has been carried out within this framework, there has been, to date, no general introductory work that has attempted to synthesize the main characteristics of this approach for the student of linguistics, who has had to turn almost from the very beginning to specialist literature on individual topics in article form. This book aims to fill this gap, to provide the advanced undergraduate and graduate student with an overview of the major current approaches to language universals and typology, with illustrations of the successes of this method - and also warnings about some of the dangers.
In a field where so much literature has arisen in a relatively short period, this book is necessarily very selective in the range of topics chosen, with preference for going into certain topics in depth rather than giving a superficial overview of the whole field. I have also restricted coverage, for the most part, to recent work on universals and typology, rather than try to give a historical account of earlier work in this area, although earlier work is mentioned, especially to the extent that it has not been subsumed by more recent research. Some of the selectivity necessarily reflects my own biases, towards those areas where I have worked myself or where I feel the most exciting results have been forthcoming. The book is concerned almost entirely with syntactic semantic universals, although on occasion phonological universals are also used as illustrative material. I believe that critical discussion of work in a few areas is more valuable than an unanimated listing, however comprehensive, of claims that have been made about universals and typology.

导读
Preface to the second edtion
Preface to thefirst edition
PrefacetOthe secondprinting
1 LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
1.1 APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE UNIVERSALs
1.1.1 Ttoo major approaches
1.1.2 The data base
1.1.3 Dqrees ofabstracmtss
1.2 CLAUIFICATION OF LANGUAGg UNIVERSALS
1.2.1 Formal and substantive universals
1.2.2 Implicational and non-implicational universals
1.2.3 Absolute universals and tendencies
1.3 EXPLANATIONS FOR LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
1.3.1 Commongenetic origin
1.3.2 External explanations
1.4 SUMMARY
Notes and references

2 LANGUAGE TYPOLOGY
2.1 TYPOLOGY AND UNIVERSALS
2.2 TYlPIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS
2.3 MOP.PHOLOGICAL TYPOLOGY
2.4 SOME FURTHER TYPOLOGICAL PARAMETERS Notes and references

3 THEORETICAL PREREQUISITES
3.1 SEMANTIC ROLES
3.2 PRAGMATIC ROLES
3.3 GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS
3.4 MORPHOLOGICAL CASES
3.5 ILLUSTRATION���ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN
CLAUSE STRUCTURE
Notes and references

4 WORD ORDER
4.1 WORD ORDBR PARAMETERS
4.2 CORRELATIONS AMONG WORD ORDER PARAMETErs
4.2.1 Greenberg’s correlations
4.2.2 Generalizations of Greenberg's results
4.2.3 Critique ofthegeneralizations
4.3 THE VALUE OF WORD ORDER TYPOLOGY
Notes and references

5 SUBJECT
5.1 THE PROBLEM
5.2 ON DEFINITIONS AND CATBGPRIES
5.3 ERGATIVITY
5.4 SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC FACTORS
Notes and references

6 CASE MARKING
6.1 THE DISCRIMINATORY FUNCTION OF CASES
6.2 NATURAL INFORMATION FLOW IN THE
TRANSITIVE CONSTRUCTION
6.2.1 lnverseforms
6.2.2 Differential marking of A and P
6.3 SUMMARY
Notes and references
7 RELATIVE CLAUSES
7. 1 SOME TYPOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES
7.2 TYPES OF RELATIVE CLAUSE
7.2. 1 Defining the notion relative clause
7.2.2 Word order and relative clause types
7.2.3 The role of the head in the relative clause
7.2.4 The role of the head in the main clause
7.3 ACCESSIBILITY TO RELATIVE CLAUSE FORMATION
7.3. 1 Simplex sentences
7.3.2 Complex constructions
7.3.3 The distribution of relative clause types Notes and references

8 CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
8. 1 PARAMETERS IN THE STUDY OF CAUSATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
8. 1. 1 Formal parameters
8. 1 .2 Semantic parameters
8.2 VALENCY CHANGES IN MORPHOLOGICAL CAUSATIVES Notes and references

9 ANIMACY
9.1 INTRODUCTION : THE NATURE OF ANIMACY
9.2 PHENOMENA CONTROLLED BY ANIMACY
9.3 CONCEPTUAL ANIMACY DISTINCTIONS
9.4 CONCLUSIONS" THE NATURE OF ANIMACY Notes and references

10 TYPOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
10.1 DIACHRONIC DIMENSIONS IN UNIVERSALS AND TYPOLOGY
10.2 AREAL TYPOLOGY
10.3 TYPOLOGY AND RECONSTRUCTION
10.3.1 Word order typology
10.3.2 Word order and morpheme order
10.4 TYPOLOGY AND DIACHRONIC EXPLANATION Notes and references

11 CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS
Map showing location of languages cited
References
Index of languages
Index of proper
Index of topics
……