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Theory Neutral

Theory Neutral

By Logan, Aidan, & Jacob

A podcast about Stuff Languages Do, covering typology and descriptive grammars from a theory-neutral perspective (or at least, as close as we can get!)
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Feeling Phonology, Part 2

Theory NeutralDec 28, 2023

00:00
32:18
Feeling Phonology, Part 2

Feeling Phonology, Part 2

In which we continue talking with guests Sai & Nai about tactile communication and the paper "Feeling phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States."

Edwards, Terra, and Diane Brentari. "Feeling phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States." Language 96.4 (2020): 819-840.⁠https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Terra-Edwards/publication/347778829_Feeling_phonology_The_conventionalization_of_phonology_in_protactile_communities_in_the_United_States/links/61e8609bdafcdb25fd38590c/Feeling-phonology-The-conventionalization-of-phonology-in-protactile-communities-in-the-United-States.pdf⁠


Collins, Steven, and Karen Petronio. "What happens in tactile ASL." Pinky extension and eye gaze: Language use in Deaf communities (1998): 18-37.⁠⁠https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=M9BKbzgUJz4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA18&dq=a+study+of+tactile+sign+interpreting&ots=KlEJJaJLyd&sig=nvdYDVmAyGKU7yZHyqdEfhA7ghE⁠⁠

Edwards, Terra, and Diane Brentari. "The grammatical incorporation of demonstratives in an emerging tactile language." Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2021): 579992. ⁠⁠⁠https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579992/full⁠⁠⁠

Gabarro-Lopez, Silvia, and Johanna Mesch. "Conveying environmental information to deafblind people: a study of tactile sign language interpreting." Frontiers in Education. Vol. 5. Frontiers Media SA, 2020.⁠https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00157/full⁠

Musa, Ahmed M., and Raphael Schwere. "The hidden tactile negotiation sign language in Somaliland's livestock markets." Bildhaan. An International Journal of Somali Studies 18 (2019): 50-69.⁠https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/171294/1/Musa-Ahmed-M-and-Schwere-Raphael-2019-The-Hidden-Tactile-Sign-Language-in-Somaliland-s-Livestock-Markets.pdf⁠

Willoughby, Louisa, et al. "Misunderstanding and repair in Tactile Auslan." Sign Language Studies 14.4 (2014): 419-443. ⁠⁠https://www.jstor.org/stable/26191222⁠⁠

Willoughby, Louisa, et al. "Tactile sign languages." Handbook of pragmatics 21 (2018): 239-258.

Dec 28, 202332:18
Feeling Phonology, Part 1

Feeling Phonology, Part 1

In which we talk with guests Sai & Nai about tactile communication and the paper "Feeling phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States."

Edwards, Terra, and Diane Brentari. "Feeling phonology: The conventionalization of phonology in protactile communities in the United States." Language 96.4 (2020): 819-840.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Terra-Edwards/publication/347778829_Feeling_phonology_The_conventionalization_of_phonology_in_protactile_communities_in_the_United_States/links/61e8609bdafcdb25fd38590c/Feeling-phonology-The-conventionalization-of-phonology-in-protactile-communities-in-the-United-States.pdf


Collins, Steven, and Karen Petronio. "What happens in tactile ASL." Pinky extension and eye gaze: Language use in Deaf communities (1998): 18-37.⁠https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=M9BKbzgUJz4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA18&dq=a+study+of+tactile+sign+interpreting&ots=KlEJJaJLyd&sig=nvdYDVmAyGKU7yZHyqdEfhA7ghE⁠

Edwards, Terra, and Diane Brentari. "The grammatical incorporation of demonstratives in an emerging tactile language." Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2021): 579992. ⁠⁠https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579992/full⁠⁠

Gabarro-Lopez, Silvia, and Johanna Mesch. "Conveying environmental information to deafblind people: a study of tactile sign language interpreting." Frontiers in Education. Vol. 5. Frontiers Media SA, 2020.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00157/full

Musa, Ahmed M., and Raphael Schwere. "The hidden tactile negotiation sign language in Somaliland's livestock markets." Bildhaan. An International Journal of Somali Studies 18 (2019): 50-69.https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/171294/1/Musa-Ahmed-M-and-Schwere-Raphael-2019-The-Hidden-Tactile-Sign-Language-in-Somaliland-s-Livestock-Markets.pdf

Willoughby, Louisa, et al. "Misunderstanding and repair in Tactile Auslan." Sign Language Studies 14.4 (2014): 419-443. ⁠https://www.jstor.org/stable/26191222⁠

Willoughby, Louisa, et al. "Tactile sign languages." Handbook of pragmatics 21 (2018): 239-258.

May 04, 202329:41
Demonstratives in Narrative Discourse

Demonstratives in Narrative Discourse

In which we talk with Dr. Nikolaus P. Himmelmann from the University of Cologne about the uses of demonstratives.

Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. "Demonstratives in narrative discourse: A taxonomy of universal uses." Typological studies in language 33 (1996): 205-254.

Dunn, Michael John. "A grammar of Chukchi." (1999).

Kluge, A. (2017). A grammar of Papuan Malay. Language Science Press.

Chafe W. L. (1980). The pear stories : cognitive cultural and linguistic aspects of narrative production. Ablex Publishing Corp.

Shimoji, Michinori, and Thomas Pellard. An introduction to Ryukyuan languages. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, 2010.

https://glottobank.org/#grambank

Lesage, J., Haynie, H. J., Skirgård, H., Weber, T., & Witzlack-Makarevich, A. (2022, June). Overlooked Data in Typological Databases: What Grambank Teaches Us About Gaps in Grammars. In Proceedings of the Thirteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (pp. 2884-2890).

EVANS, N., BERGQVIST, H., & SAN ROQUE, L. (2018). The grammar of engagement I: Framework and initial exemplification. Language and Cognition, 10(1), 110-140. doi:10.1017/langcog.2017.21

EVANS, N., BERGQVIST, H., & SAN ROQUE, L. (2018). The grammar of engagement II: Typology and diachrony. Language and Cognition, 10(1), 141-170. doi:10.1017/langcog.2017.22

Jan 08, 202343:56
Evidentiality & Deixis

Evidentiality & Deixis

In which we discuss the paper "Encoding Speaker Perspective: Evidentials" by Ferdinand de Haan.

We did end up asking Caitie. Stay tuned for a later erratum or minisode with the answer!

De Haan, F. (2005). Encoding speaker perspective: Evidentials. Linguistic diversity and language theories, 72, 379-417. 

https://wals.info/chapter/77
https://wals.info/chapter/78

Dec 02, 202233:52
Geography & Language Isolates

Geography & Language Isolates

In which we discuss the paper "The geography and development of language isolates" by Matthias Urban with a guest geologist!

Urban, M. (2021). The geography and development of language isolates. Royal Society open science, 8(4), 202232.

Aannestad, A.; Campbell, C.; Campbell, J. (2020) Towards a grammar of the Yale language: taking another look at archived field data. https://pnglanguages.sil.org/resources/archives/85952

Nov 05, 202229:11
Nominal Word Order in Signed Languages

Nominal Word Order in Signed Languages

In which we discuss the paper "Nominal Word Order Typology in Signed Languages" by Caitie Coons... with Caitie Coons! And meander through a general introduction to signed language typology in the process.

See this episode on YouTube for captions: https://youtu.be/7g9E-jUoqa4
Or view the complete transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lrrnlVQnOXjsTEyhAp7wufDE94RCTh37gEuRkgymqw0/edit?usp=sharing

Coons, C. (2022). Nominal Word Order Typology in Signed Languages. Front. Commun. 6: 802596. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.

WALS: https://wals.info/
ValPal: https://valpal.info/
SignHub: https://thesignhub.eu/
Tory Sampson on the copula cycle in ASL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08BvihNGZRY
Sign Change Project at UT Austin’s Sign Lab: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/lrc/sign-change/

Napoli, D. J., and Sutton-Spence, R. (2014). Order of the Major Constituents in Sign Languages: Implications for All Language. Front. Psychol. 5, 376. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00376 

Kubus, O., & Nuhbalaoglu, D. (2018). The challenge of marking relative clauses in Turkish Sign Language. Dilbilim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 29(1), 139-160. doi:10.18492/dad.373454

Oct 01, 202240:45
Nominal Tense

Nominal Tense

In which we discuss the paper "Nominal Tense in Crosslinguistic Perspective" by Rachel Nordlinger & Louisa Sadler.

Sep 05, 202229:15
Serial Verb Constructions

Serial Verb Constructions

In which we discuss Aikhenvald, A. Y. (2006). "Serial verb constructions in typological perspective." from the book Serial verb constructions: A cross-linguistic typology--the paper which introduced Jacob to the wonder of linguistic typology!

Questions? Comments? Hatemail? Follow us on twitter @theory_neutral or send us an email at theory.neutral.podcast@gmail.com

Aug 01, 202243:00
How Much Data Does It Take To Sail A Boat?

How Much Data Does It Take To Sail A Boat?

In which we discuss Gil, D. (2008). "How much grammar does it take to sail a boat?(Or, what can material artefacts tell us about the evolution of language?)."

Questions? Comments? Hatemail? Follow us on twitter @theory_neutral or send us an email at theory.neutral.podcast@gmail.com

Jul 01, 202222:53
Coordinating Constructions

Coordinating Constructions

In which we discuss Haspelmath, M. (2004). Coordinating constructions: An overview. Typological Studies in Language, 58, 3-40.

Questions? Comments? Hatemail? Follow us on twitter @theory_neutral or send us an email at theory.neutral.podcast@gmail.com

Jun 01, 202228:04
The Case of Pitch Accent

The Case of Pitch Accent

In which we discuss Larry M. Hyman's paper "How (not) to do Phonological Typology: The Case of Pitch-Accent".

Think we got something wrong? Want to shower us in praise? Either way, follow us on Twitter @theory_neutral or email us at theory.neutral.podcast@gmail.com

Apr 30, 202223:16
Part-of-Speech Systems

Part-of-Speech Systems

Welcome to Theory Neutral! In this episode, we introduce ourselves & our podcast, and talk about Part of speech systems and word order (Hengeveld, Rijkhoff, Siewierska, 2004).

Apr 22, 202250:31