Practice question · True or false
Greenberg's 1963 study examined thirty languages selected for genetic and areal spread.
Hints
- The sample was small and deliberately chosen.
- Thirty languages, chosen to avoid clustering in one family or region.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, and the deliberate selection is what made a sample that size worth anything. Thirty languages from one family would show inheritance; thirty from one region would show contact. Spread is what lets a recurring pattern be attributed to something about language rather than to history.
Practise Universals and Typology
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