World Atlas of Language Structures

The first Atlas was published by Oxford University Press in the form of a book in 2005 with an attached CD-ROM ^[2] . In April 2008, it was launched as an Internet site. The online version was finalized in April 2011 .

The atlas contains information on the geographical distribution of the most important structural language features. It includes 144 chapters, each of which is devoted to one attribute, and 160 maps depicting geographical distribution. The number of entries in the database (that is, individual pairs “language - the value of the attribute implemented in the language”) in the 2005 version was 58,000 ^[3] , in the updated online version - 76492. Total languages ​​- 2679 ^[4]

The core of the Atlas is composed of chapters devoted to grammatical features and comprising eight main sections: phonology , morphology , name categories, name syntax, verb categories, word order , simple sentence , complex sentence . One section presents a lexical typology, but not in a systematic way. There are also sections devoted to sign languages , paralinguistic sounds and writing systems .

The data sources were grammar and dictionaries, linguistic monographs, dissertations and articles, field notes (answers to specially designed questionnaires) and opinions of language consultants. The number of books and articles from which information was drawn was 6,700, and 83 people were involved in the role of experts in various languages.

Information on each of the considered features is presented on the project website in several forms:

• each feature has a separate page on which the values ​​of the feature are indicated and a list of languages ​​that implement each of the values ​​is provided;
• each feature is devoted to a descriptive chapter in which the feature, its meanings and their distribution by language are described in text form (with examples from languages);
• the distribution of characteristic values ​​can also be seen on the map, where each value is represented by a special sign.

There are also sections dedicated to:

• languages: for each language provides basic information about it, as well as a list of the meanings of all the attributes for a given language;
• authors: a list of authors is given indicating those features that they studied for the project;
• sources: a general bibliographic list is provided with the ability to export bibliographic descriptions of literary sources in various formats ( BibTeX , RIS ,! EndNote , XML , etc.);
• news and updates.

The site has the opportunity to leave a comment on the description of a particular attribute or a specific record in the database. The user can also generate their own cards by combining several features on one card. There are settings for the appearance of cards, as well as data export in various formats.

The total number of languages ​​involved in one way or another is 2676 (2678 in the 2011 version): each of these languages ​​is depicted on at least one map. Since detailed data were far from accessible to all of them, some languages ​​(262 in total) are shown on only one map, while others (such as English ) on almost all maps. A representative sample of 100 languages ​​was also allocated that should have been included in all maps (and another 100 languages ​​for which this was desired).

The number of languages ​​studied for a particular attribute and displayed on the map was chosen by the author of the corresponding section. Compilation of special samples in 100 and 200 languages ​​made it their task to ensure representativeness . If information about languages ​​genetically close (for example, Indo-European ) or common in one area (for example, in Eurasia ) would prevail, the picture of the frequency of certain linguistic phenomena would be distorted. Samples of 100 and 200 languages ​​were created in such a way as to represent linguistic diversity in the most balanced way, without distortions in any direction. The compilation of these samples was also partly influenced by the availability of language data. At the same time, a sample of 100 languages ​​included more well-known and more well-studied languages ​​compared to languages ​​from the same families / ranges that were selected in an extended sample.

The Atlas team of authors includes 55 people, grammar and lexical typology specialists from around the world. The authors include world-famous scholars such as B. Bickel, G. Corbett , E. Dahl , I. Madison, J. Nichols , A. Siverska, L. Stassen, J. van der Auver and others. Russian linguistics is represented in the Atlas by V. Nedyalkov , M. Daniel, N. Dobrushina, V. Gusev. Editors (also authors) are Martin Haspelmat, Matthew Dreyer, David Gil and Bernard Comrie.

• Phonology
  • consonant inventory
  • consonant to vowel ratio
  • uvular consonants
  • glottalized consonants
  • fixed stress location

• Morphology
  • suffix and prefix in inflection
  • reduplication
  • case syncretism

• Name Categories
  • number of births
  • definite article
  • contrast in range of demonstrators
  • number of cases
  • committee and instrumental

• Name syntax
  • genitive , adjective and relative sentence
  • essay writing

• Verb Categories
  • performance / imperfection
  • morphological imperative
  • expression of evidentiality

• Word order
  • subject and verb order
  • adjective and name order
  • order of negation and verb

• Simple sentence
  • basic coding types of actants
  • passive designs
  • comparative designs

• Difficult sentence
  • subject relativization
  • target offer

• Vocabulary
  • color terms
  • tea names

• Linguistic Atlas of Europe
• Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Languages
• Intercontinental Dictionaries (Series)