Chapter Quantitative explorations of the worldwide distribution of rare characteristics, or the exceptionality of northwestern European languages
In this article, the distribution of rare features among the world's languages is investigated based on the data from the World Atlas of Language Structures (Haspelmath et al. 2005). A Rarity Index for a language is defined, resulting in a listing of the world's languages by mean rarity. F...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | , |
| Format: | Electronic Book Chapter |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Berlin/Boston
De Gruyter
2011
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | OAPEN Library: download the publication OAPEN Library: description of the publication |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | In this article, the distribution of rare features among the world's languages is investigated based on the data from the World Atlas of Language Structures (Haspelmath et al. 2005). A Rarity Index for a language is defined, resulting in a listing of the world's languages by mean rarity. Further, a Group Rarity Index is defined to be able to measure average rarity of genealogical or areal groups. One of the most exceptional geographical areas turns out to be northwestern Europe. A closer investigation of the characteristics that make this area exceptional concludes this article. |
|---|---|
| ISBN: | 9783110219098.411 9783110219081 |
| Access: | Open Access |