本书系统介绍了研究语言类型学与语言共性的方法及理论,作者的分析由浅入深、条理清晰,行文深入浅出、简明扼要。同时,作者提供了大量音系学、形态学、句法学和语义学等领域内语言共性的例证,以加深读者对抽象理论的理解。与**版相比,第二版在章节编排上多有调整,特别是增加了类型学研究的*新成果——语义地图模型,作者也从这个角度对旧版内容重新加以审视。

List offigures
List of tables
Preface to the second edilion
preface to the timedition
List ofabbreviations
List ofsymbols
1 Introduction
1.1 Whatistypology?
1.2 Typology,universals and generative grammar
1.3 Cross-linguistic comparison
1.4 The problem ofcross linguistic comparability
1.5 Language sampling for cross-linguistic research
1.6 Data sources
2 Typologicai classification
2.1 A cross-linguistically valid description of morphosyntactic structures
2.1.1 Simple strategies
2.1.2 Relational strategies
2.1.3 Indexical strategies
2.1.4 Classifiers:indexical or relational?
2.1.5 More grammaticalized strategies
2.1.6 Summary
2.2 What is being classified?
2.3 M0rphological typology
3 Implicational universals and competing motivations
3.1 Restrictions on possible language types
3.2 Unrestricted and implicational universals
3.3 Competing motivations
3.4 Deeperexplanationsforwordorder and affixorderuniversals
3.5 Typology。universals and generative grammar revisited
3.6 Conclusion
4 Grammatical categories:typological markedness economy and iconicity
4.1 Typological markedness
4.1.1 Structural coding
4.1.2 Behavioral potential
4.1.3 Neutral value:not a criterion for typological markedness
4.2 Economy and iconicity
4.2.1 Structural coding,economy and syntagmatic isomorphism
4.2.2 Economy.paradigmatic isomorphism and polysemy
4.3 Frequency and deeper explanations for economy and iconicity
4.4 Typological asymmetries in word order and phonology
4.5 Conclusion
5 Grammatical hierarchies and the semantic map model
5.1 Grammatical hierarchies and implicational universals
5.2 The animacy and definiteness hierarchies
5.3 A deeper explanation tbr hierarchies and categories:the semantic map model
5.4 Conceptual spaces.structural coding and behavioral potential
5.5 111e grammatical relations hierarchies
5.5.1 The external definition of grammatical relations
5.5.2 Subject and object,ergative and absolutive
5.5.3 Objects:direct and indirect.primary and secondary
5.5.4 T11e conceptual space for grammatical relations
5.6 Conclusion
Appendix:typological markedness patterns in grammatical categories
6 Prototypes and the interaction of typological patterns
6.1 Interactions ofcategories
6.1.1 Place of articulation
6.1.2 Person
6.2 Interactions of values:typological prototypes
6.3 GrammaticaI relations
6.3.1 Animacy,definiteness and participant roles
6.3.2 Transitivity
6.3.3 Deeper explanations for the typology of grammatical relations
6.4 Parts ofspeech
6.5 Other prototypes and markedness reversals
6 6 Conclusion
7 Syntactic argumentation and syntactic structure in typology
7.1 Typology and syntactic argumentation
7.2 lconicity,economy and syntactic structure
7.2.1 Conceptual distance and constituent structure
7.2 2 Syntactic and conceptual independence
7.2.3 The encoding of objects and events
7.2.4 Other universals of linguistic structure
7.3 Vypological conspiracies and communicative motivation
7.4 Conclusion
8 Diachronic typology
8.1 The dynamicization of synchronic typology
8.2 From states to processes
8.3 Grammaticalization
8.3.1 Phonological processes
8.3.2 Morphosyntactic processes
8.3.3 Functional processes
8.3.4 Issues in grammaticalization
8.3.5 Explanations for grammaticalization
8.4 Inferring diachrony from synchrony
8.5 Conclusion
9 Typology as an approach to language
9.1 Scientific approaches(research traditions)and linguistic theories
9.2 Thinking like a typologist
9.3 Description.explanation and generalization
9.4 Typology,the Saussurean dichotomies and the evolutionary model
List of references
Map oflanguages cited
Author index
Language index
Subiect index

William Croft:曼彻斯特大学语言学教授。