Markedness: Difference between revisions
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'''Markedness''' is a typological linguistic notion roughly equivalent to the "typicality" of a single feature. A language feature that is highly marked is atypical; one that is less marked is common (but, depending on the amount of possibilities, not necessarily overwhelmingly so). When the least marked choice in a set involves the ''absense'' of a feature, it is called '''unmarked'''. | '''Markedness''' is a typological linguistic notion roughly equivalent to the "typicality" of a single feature. A language feature that is highly marked is atypical; one that is less marked is common (but, depending on the amount of possibilities, not necessarily overwhelmingly so). When the least marked choice in a set involves the ''absense'' of a feature, it is called '''unmarked'''. | ||
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**Labialized coronal > labialized labial >> labialized velar | **Labialized coronal > labialized labial >> labialized velar | ||
*[[Word order]] | *[[Word order]] | ||
** SO | ** OS > SO | ||
[[Category:Linguistic typology]] | [[Category:Linguistic typology]] | ||
[[Category:Terminology]] | [[Category:Terminology]] | ||
Latest revision as of 21:52, 22 November 2011
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Markedness is a typological linguistic notion roughly equivalent to the "typicality" of a single feature. A language feature that is highly marked is atypical; one that is less marked is common (but, depending on the amount of possibilities, not necessarily overwhelmingly so). When the least marked choice in a set involves the absense of a feature, it is called unmarked.
Markedness can only be compared to other similar features; it does not make sense to ask, for example, which of contour tone and comitative case is the more marked, as one is a pattern of prosody (within the domain of phonology) and the other is a case (within the domain of morphology).
Markedness is also qualitative: it can not be quantified, outside of the percentage of occurrence in a given sample of languages.
Examples of markedness
"A > B" is used here to signify that A is more marked than B, while ">>" signifies "very much more marked".
- Grammatical alignment
- Transitive >> tripartite >> ergative > accusative
- Phonation:
- For obstruents, voiced > unvoiced
- For sonorants, unvoiced > voiced
- Aspirated > unaspirated
- Glottalized fricative > glottalized sonorant > glottalized stop
- Place of articulation:
- Coronal consonants are the least marked, together with glottal
- Uvular > velar
- Palatalized > unpalatalized (likewise for velarization, labialization, etc.)
- Labialized coronal > labialized labial >> labialized velar
- Word order
- OS > SO
