Sociolinguistic Typology: Complexification and Simplification

The typology of societies is intertwined with the typology of their languages. In a nutshell, this is the central tenet of sociolinguistic typology. However, both ‘societies’ and ‘languages’ are complex, multifaceted phenomena, which can be mapped out into a multitude of dimensions. Languages traditionally unfold into lexicon, phonology, morphology, and syntax, with many subcategories, and societies differ in terms of size, connectedness, migration rates, socioeconomic factors, and generally the environment they live in. This entry focuses on a particular link between a subset of these dimensions: population structure and its relation to the simplification of morphological marking. First, it gives a brief historical overview of this particular flavor of sociolinguistic typology. It then discusses the databases and methods which have been employed in the last two decades for probing into this link. It concludes with a tentative consensus, and further issues and caveats to be addressed in future research.