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In:Linguistic Categories, Language Description and Linguistic Typology
Edited by Luca Alfieri, Giorgio Francesco Arcodia and Paolo Ramat
[Typological Studies in Language 132] 2021
► pp. 211–248

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Chapter 6
Comparative concepts are not a different kind of thing

 | University of Munich
Published online: 9 July 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.132.06rei
This contribution challenges the by now established notion of comparative concepts; in particular, it can be read as a (delayed) response to Haspelmath (2010). Like Haspelmath’s original paper, the present one is theoretical in essence, with examples used primarily for illustration. My main point is that Haspelmath’s comparative concepts are, despite his claims to the contrary, simply crosslinguistic categories. This point has been made before; however, I offer two new ingredients to the argument: first, an explicit definition of the crucial term instantiation, allowing, among other things, a reaction to Haspelmath’s (2018b) newest defence of comparative concepts, and second, an alternative approach involving multiple monotonic inheritance. The contribution as a whole, though being theoretical, strives to argue as framework-neutrally as possible; in particular I remain agnostic about the existence and nature of Universal Grammar in any sense.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A critical close reading of Haspelmath (2010a)
    • 2.1Short summary of Haspelmath (2010a)
    • 2.2Discussion of Haspelmath (2010a)
      • 2.2.1The core arguments
      • 2.2.2Haspelmath’s suggestions for concrete comparative concepts
        • Excursus
  • 3.An alternative: Monotonic, multiple inheritance
    • 3.1Background
    • 3.2Blueprint
    • 3.3Implementation
      • 3.3.1A guided tour through Figure 11
      • 3.3.2Beyond Figure 11
  • 4.Conclusion and outlook
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
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Lieb, Hans-Heinrich
2021. Theories of language, language comparison, and grammatical description. In Linguistic Categories, Language Description and Linguistic Typology [Typological Studies in Language, 132], ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo

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