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Available in 20 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-20" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">20 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taaluniversalia" title="Taaluniversalia – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Taaluniversalia" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstic" title="Universal lingüístic – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Universal lingüístic" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprachuniversalien" title="Sprachuniversalien – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Sprachuniversalien" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeleuniversaal" title="Keeleuniversaal – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Keeleuniversaal" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-el mw-list-item"><a href="https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9A%CE%B1%CE%B8%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC_%CF%87%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BA%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC_%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%B3%CE%BB%CF%8E%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B1%CF%82_(%CE%93%CE%BB%CF%89%CF%83%CF%83%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1)" title="Καθολικά χαρακτηριστικά της γλώσσας (Γλωσσολογία) – Greek" lang="el" hreflang="el" data-title="Καθολικά χαρακτηριστικά της γλώσσας (Γλωσσολογία)" data-language-autonym="Ελληνικά" data-language-local-name="Greek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Ελληνικά</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_ling%C3%BC%C3%ADstico" title="Universal lingüístico – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Universal lingüístico" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C_%D8%B2%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C" title="جهانی زبانی – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="جهانی زبانی" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universaux_linguistiques" title="Universaux linguistiques – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Universaux linguistiques" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ga mw-list-item"><a href="https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uilithe_teangeola%C3%ADocha" title="Uilithe teangeolaíocha – Irish" lang="ga" hreflang="ga" data-title="Uilithe teangeolaíocha" data-language-autonym="Gaeilge" data-language-local-name="Irish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Gaeilge</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universale_linguistico" title="Universale linguistico – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Universale linguistico" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyelvi_univerz%C3%A1l%C3%A9" title="Nyelvi univerzálé – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Nyelvi univerzálé" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nl mw-list-item"><a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taaluniversalia" title="Taaluniversalia – Dutch" lang="nl" hreflang="nl" data-title="Taaluniversalia" data-language-autonym="Nederlands" data-language-local-name="Dutch" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Nederlands</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniwersalia_j%C4%99zykowe" title="Uniwersalia językowe – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Uniwersalia językowe" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalii_lingvistice" title="Universalii lingvistice – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Universalii lingvistice" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AF%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%8F" title="Языковая универсалия – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Языковая универсалия" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sq mw-list-item"><a href="https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistika_univerzale" title="Linguistika univerzale – Albanian" lang="sq" hreflang="sq" data-title="Linguistika univerzale" data-language-autonym="Shqip" data-language-local-name="Albanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Shqip</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sk badge-Q70893996 mw-list-item" title=""><a href="https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazykov%C3%A9_univerz%C3%A1lie" title="Jazykové univerzálie – Slovak" lang="sk" hreflang="sk" data-title="Jazykové univerzálie" data-language-autonym="Slovenčina" data-language-local-name="Slovak" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Slovenčina</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingvistiska_universalier" title="Lingvistiska universalier – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Lingvistiska universalier" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%96_%D1%83%D0%BD%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%97" title="Мовні універсалії – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Мовні універсалії" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a 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<div class="vector-body-before-content"> <div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Universally-occurring linguistic pattern</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Not to be confused with <a href="/wiki/Universal_grammar" title="Universal grammar">Universal grammar</a>.</div> <p>A <b>linguistic universal</b> is a pattern that occurs systematically across <a href="/wiki/Natural_language" title="Natural language">natural languages</a>, potentially true for all of them. For example, <i>All languages have <a href="/wiki/Noun" title="Noun">nouns</a> and <a href="/wiki/Verbs" class="mw-redirect" title="Verbs">verbs</a></i>, or <i>If a language is spoken, it has <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonants</a> and <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a>.</i> Research in this area of <a href="/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics">linguistics</a> is closely tied to the study of <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_typology" title="Linguistic typology">linguistic typology</a>, and intends to reveal generalizations across languages, likely tied to <a href="/wiki/Cognition" title="Cognition">cognition</a>, <a href="/wiki/Perception" title="Perception">perception</a>, or other abilities of the mind. The field originates from discussions influenced by <a href="/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky">Noam Chomsky</a>'s proposal of a <a href="/wiki/Universal_grammar" title="Universal grammar">Universal Grammar</a>, but was largely pioneered by the linguist <a href="/wiki/Joseph_Greenberg" title="Joseph Greenberg">Joseph Greenberg</a>, who derived a set of <a href="/wiki/Greenberg%27s_linguistic_universals" title="Greenberg's linguistic universals">forty-five basic universals</a>, mostly dealing with <a href="/wiki/Syntax" title="Syntax">syntax</a>, from a study of some thirty languages. </p><p>Though there has been significant research into linguistic universals, in more recent time some linguists, including <a href="/wiki/Nicholas_Evans_(linguist)" title="Nicholas Evans (linguist)">Nicolas Evans</a> and <a href="/wiki/Stephen_Levinson" title="Stephen Levinson">Stephen C. Levinson</a>, have argued against the existence of absolute linguistic universals that are shared across all languages. These linguists cite problems such as <a href="/wiki/Ethnocentrism" title="Ethnocentrism">ethnocentrism</a> amongst <a href="/wiki/Cognitive_science" title="Cognitive science">cognitive scientists</a>, and thus linguists, as well as insufficient research into all of the world's languages in discussions related to linguistic universals, instead promoting these similarities as simply strong tendencies. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Terminology">Terminology</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Terminology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Linguists distinguish between two kinds of universals: <em>absolute</em> (opposite: <em>statistical</em>, often called <em>tendencies</em>) and <em>implicational</em> (opposite: <em>non-implicational</em>). Absolute universals apply to every known language and are quite few in number; an example is <i>All languages have <a href="/wiki/Pronoun" title="Pronoun">pronouns</a></i>. An implicational universal applies to languages with a particular feature that is always accompanied by another feature, such as <i>If a language has <a href="/wiki/Trial_grammatical_number" class="mw-redirect" title="Trial grammatical number">trial grammatical number</a>, it also has <a href="/wiki/Dual_grammatical_number" class="mw-redirect" title="Dual grammatical number">dual grammatical number</a></i>, while non-implicational universals just state the existence (or non-existence) of one particular feature. </p><p>Also in contrast to absolute universals are <em>tendencies</em>, statements that may not be true for all languages but nevertheless are far too common to be the result of chance.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> They also have implicational and non-implicational forms. An example of the latter would be <i>The vast majority of languages have <a href="/wiki/Nasal_consonant" title="Nasal consonant">nasal consonants</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> However, most tendencies, like their universal counterparts, are implicational. For example, <i>With overwhelmingly greater-than-chance frequency, languages with normal <a href="/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%93verb" class="mw-redirect" title="Subject–object–verb">SOV</a> order are <a href="/wiki/Postposition" class="mw-redirect" title="Postposition">postpositional</a></i>. Strictly speaking, a tendency is not a kind of universal, but exceptions to most statements called universals can be found. For example, <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> is an SOV language with <a href="/wiki/Preposition" class="mw-redirect" title="Preposition">prepositions</a>. Often it turns out that these exceptional languages are undergoing a shift from one type of language to another. In the case of Latin, its descendant <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a> switched to <a href="/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93verb%E2%80%93object" class="mw-redirect" title="Subject–verb–object">SVO</a>, which is a much more common order among prepositional languages. </p><p>Universals may also be <em>bidirectional</em> or <em>unidirectional</em>. In a bidirectional universal two features each imply the existence of each other. For example, languages with <a href="/wiki/Postposition" class="mw-redirect" title="Postposition">postpositions</a> usually have SOV order, and likewise SOV languages usually have postpositions. The implication works both ways, and thus the universal is bidirectional. By contrast, in a unidirectional universal the implication works only one way. Languages that place <a href="/wiki/Relative_clause" title="Relative clause">relative clauses</a> before the noun they modify again usually have SOV order, so pre-nominal relative clauses imply SOV. On the other hand, SOV languages worldwide show little preference for pre-nominal relative clauses, and thus SOV implies little about the order of relative clauses. As the implication works only one way, the proposed universal is a unidirectional one. </p><p>Linguistic universals in syntax are sometimes held up as evidence for <a href="/wiki/Universal_grammar" title="Universal grammar">universal grammar</a> (although <a href="/wiki/Epistemology" title="Epistemology">epistemological</a> arguments are more common). Other explanations for linguistic universals have been proposed, for example, that linguistic universals tend to be properties of language that aid communication. If a language were to lack one of these properties, it has been argued, it would probably soon evolve into a language having that property.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Michael_Halliday" title="Michael Halliday">Michael Halliday</a> has argued for a distinction between <em>descriptive</em> and <em>theoretical</em> categories in resolving the matter of the existence of linguistic universals, a distinction he takes from <a href="/wiki/J.R._Firth" class="mw-redirect" title="J.R. Firth">J.R. Firth</a> and <a href="/wiki/Louis_Hjelmslev" title="Louis Hjelmslev">Louis Hjelmslev</a>. He argues that "theoretical categories, and their inter-relations construe an abstract model of language...; they are interlocking and mutually defining". Descriptive categories, by contrast, are those set up to describe particular languages. He argues that "When people ask about 'universals', they usually mean descriptive categories that are assumed to be found in all languages. The problem is there is no mechanism for deciding how much alike descriptive categories from different languages have to be before they are said to be 'the same thing'".<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Universal_grammar">Universal grammar</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Universal grammar"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Universal_grammar" title="Universal grammar">Universal grammar</a></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky">Noam Chomsky</a>'s work related to the <a href="/wiki/Innateness_hypothesis" title="Innateness hypothesis">innateness hypothesis</a> as it pertains to our ability to rapidly learn any language without formal instruction and with limited input, or what he refers to as a <a href="/wiki/Poverty_of_the_stimulus" title="Poverty of the stimulus">poverty of the stimulus</a>, is what began research into linguistic universals. This led to his proposal for a shared underlying grammar structure for all languages, a concept he called <i><a href="/wiki/Universal_grammar" title="Universal grammar">universal grammar</a></i> (UG), which he claimed must exist somewhere in the human brain prior to <a href="/wiki/Language_acquisition" title="Language acquisition">language acquisition</a>. Chomsky defines UG as "the system of principles, conditions, and rules that are elements or properties of all human languages... by necessity."<sup id="cite_ref-:0_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He states that UG expresses "the essence of human language,"<sup id="cite_ref-:0_5-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and believes that the structure-dependent rules of UG allow humans to interpret and create an infinite number of novel grammatical sentences. Chomsky asserts that UG is the underlying connection between all languages and that the various differences between languages are all relative with respect to UG. He claims that UG is essential to our ability to learn languages, and thus uses it as evidence in a discussion of how to form a potential 'theory of learning' for how humans learn all or most of our cognitive processes throughout our lives. The discussion of Chomsky's UG, its innateness, and its connection to how humans learn language has been one of the more covered topics in linguistics studies to date. However, there is division amongst linguists between those who support Chomsky's claims of UG and those who argued against the existence of an underlying shared grammar structure that can account for all languages. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Semantics">Semantics</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Semantics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantics</a>, research into linguistic universals has taken place in a number of ways. Some linguists, starting with <a href="/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz" class="mw-redirect" title="Gottfried Leibniz">Gottfried Leibniz</a>, have pursued the search for a hypothetic irreducible semantic core of all languages. A modern variant of this approach can be found in the <a href="/wiki/Natural_semantic_metalanguage" title="Natural semantic metalanguage">natural semantic metalanguage</a> of <a href="/wiki/Anna_Wierzbicka" title="Anna Wierzbicka">Anna Wierzbicka</a> and associates. See, for example,<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Other lines of research suggest cross-linguistic tendencies to use body part terms metaphorically as <a href="/wiki/Adposition" title="Adposition">adpositions</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> or tendencies to have morphologically simple words for cognitively salient concepts.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The human body, being a physiological universal, provides an ideal domain for research into semantic and lexical universals. In a seminal study, <a href="/wiki/Cecil_H._Brown" title="Cecil H. Brown">Cecil H. Brown</a> (1976) proposed a number of universals in the semantics of body part terminology, including the following: in any language, there will be distinct terms for <small>BODY</small>, <small>HEAD</small>, <small>ARM</small>, <small>EYES</small>, <small>NOSE</small>, and <small>MOUTH</small>; if there is a distinct term for <small>FOOT</small>, there will be a distinct term for <small>HAND</small>; similarly, if there are terms for <small>INDIVIDUAL TOES</small>, then there are terms for <small>INDIVIDUAL FINGERS</small>. Subsequent research has shown that most of these features have to be considered cross-linguistic tendencies rather than true universals. Several languages like <a href="/wiki/Tidore_language" title="Tidore language">Tidore</a> and <a href="/wiki/Kuuk_Thaayorre_language" title="Kuuk Thaayorre language">Kuuk Thaayorre</a> lack a general term meaning 'body'. On the basis of such data it has been argued that the highest level in the <a href="/wiki/Partonomy" class="mw-redirect" title="Partonomy">partonomy</a> of body part terms would be the word for 'person'.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Some other examples of proposed linguistic universals in <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantics</a> include the idea that all languages possess words with the meaning '(biological) mother' and 'you (second person singular pronoun)' as well as statistical tendencies of meanings of basic color terms in relation to the number of color terms used by a respective language. Some <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_relativity_and_the_color_naming_debate" title="Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate">theories of color naming</a> suggest that if a language possesses only two terms for describing color, their respective meanings will be 'black' and 'white' (or perhaps 'dark' and 'light'), and if a language possesses more than two color terms, then the additional terms will follow trends related to the focal colors, which are determined by the physiology of how color is perceived, rather than linguistics. Thus, if a language possesses three color terms, the third will mean 'red', and if a language possesses four color terms, the next will mean 'yellow' or 'green'. If there are five color terms, then both 'yellow' and 'green' are added, if six, then 'blue' is added, and so on. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Counterarguments">Counterarguments</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Counterarguments"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Nicholas_Evans_(linguist)" title="Nicholas Evans (linguist)">Nicolas Evans</a> and <a href="/wiki/Stephen_Levinson" title="Stephen Levinson">Stephen C. Levinson</a> are two linguists who have written against the existence of linguistic universals, making a particular mention towards issues with <a href="/wiki/Noam_Chomsky" title="Noam Chomsky">Chomsky</a>'s proposal for a <a href="/wiki/Universal_grammar" title="Universal grammar">Universal Grammar</a>. They argue that across the 6,000-8,000 languages spoken around the world today, there are merely strong tendencies rather than universals at best.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_11-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In their view, these arise primarily due to the fact that many languages are connected to one another through shared historical backgrounds or common lineage, such as group <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance languages</a> in Europe that were all derived from ancient <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>, and therefore it can be expected that they share some core similarities. Evans and Levinson believe that linguists who have previously proposed or supported concepts associated with linguistic universals have done so "under the assumption that most languages are English-like in their structure"<sup id="cite_ref-:1_11-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and only after analyzing a limited range of languages. They identify <a href="/wiki/Ethnocentrism" title="Ethnocentrism">ethnocentrism</a>, the idea "that most cognitive scientists, linguists included, speak only familiar European languages, all close cousins in structure,"<sup id="cite_ref-:1_11-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> as a possible influence towards the various issues they identify in the assertions made on linguistic universals. With regards to Chomsky's universal grammar, these linguists claim that the explanation of the structure and rules applied to UG are either false due to a lack of detail into the various constructions used when creating or interpreting a grammatical sentence, or that the theory is unfalsifiable due to the vague and oversimplified assertions made by Chomsky. Instead, Evans and Levinson highlight the vast diversity that exists amongst the many languages spoken around the world to advocate for further investigation into the many cross-linguistic variations that do exist. Their article promotes linguistic diversity by citing multiple examples of variation in how "languages can be structured at every level: <a href="/wiki/Phonetics" title="Phonetics">phonetic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonological</a>, <a href="/wiki/Morphology_(linguistics)" title="Morphology (linguistics)">morphological</a>, <a href="/wiki/Syntax" title="Syntax">syntactic</a> and <a href="/wiki/Semantics" title="Semantics">semantic</a>."<sup id="cite_ref-:1_11-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> They claim that increased understanding and acceptance of linguistic diversity over the concepts of false claims of linguistic universals, better stated to them as strong tendencies, will lead to more enlightening discoveries in the studies of human cognition. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Conservativity" title="Conservativity">Conservativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_universal" title="Cultural universal">Cultural universal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Greenberg%27s_linguistic_universals" title="Greenberg's linguistic universals">Greenberg's linguistic universals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swadesh_list" title="Swadesh list">Swadesh list</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFDryer1998" class="citation conference cs1">Dryer, Matthew S. (1998). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dryer/cls97.pdf">"Why statistical universals are better than absolute universals"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Papers from the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society</i>. pp. 123–145.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=conference&rft.atitle=Why+statistical+universals+are+better+than+absolute+universals&rft.btitle=Papers+from+the+33rd+Annual+Meeting+of+the+Chicago+Linguistic+Society&rft.pages=123-145&rft.date=1998&rft.aulast=Dryer&rft.aufirst=Matthew+S.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acsu.buffalo.edu%2F~dryer%2Fcls97.pdf&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALinguistic+universal" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="/wiki/Lushootseed_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Lushootseed language">Lushootseed</a> and <a href="/wiki/Rotokas_language" title="Rotokas language">Rotokas</a> are examples of the rare languages which truly lack nasal consonants as normal speech sounds.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFEverett2012" class="citation book cs1">Everett, Daniel (2012). <i>Language the cultural tool</i>. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Language+the+cultural+tool&rft.place=New+York%2C+NY&rft.pub=Pantheon+Books&rft.date=2012&rft.aulast=Everett&rft.aufirst=Daniel&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALinguistic+universal" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Halliday, M.A.K. 2002. A personal perspective. In On Grammar, Volume 1 in the Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday. London and New York: Continuum p12.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:0_5-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:0_5-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFChomsky1975" class="citation book cs1">Chomsky, Noam (1975). <i>Reflections on Language</i>. New York: Pantheon Books.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Reflections+on+Language&rft.place=New+York&rft.pub=Pantheon+Books&rft.date=1975&rft.aulast=Chomsky&rft.aufirst=Noam&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALinguistic+universal" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFGoddardWierzbicka1994" class="citation book cs1">Goddard, Cliff; Wierzbicka, Anna, eds. (1994). <i>Semantic and lexical universals</i>. Amsterdam: Benjamins.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Semantic+and+lexical+universals&rft.place=Amsterdam&rft.pub=Benjamins&rft.date=1994&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALinguistic+universal" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Goddard (2002).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Heine (1997)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Rosch et al. (1976)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Wilkins (1993), Enfield et al. 2006:17.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:1-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_11-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_11-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_11-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_11-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFEvansLevinson2009" class="citation journal cs1">Evans, Nicolas; Levinson, Stephen C. (2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0140525X0999094X">"The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science"</a>. <i>Behavioral and Brain Sciences</i>. <b>32</b> (5). Cambridge University Press: 429–492. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0140525X0999094X">10.1017/S0140525X0999094X</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Hdl_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Hdl (identifier)">hdl</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hdl.handle.net/11858%2F00-001M-0000-0012-C29E-4">11858/00-001M-0000-0012-C29E-4</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19857320">19857320</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Behavioral+and+Brain+Sciences&rft.atitle=The+myth+of+language+universals%3A+Language+diversity+and+its+importance+for+cognitive+science&rft.volume=32&rft.issue=5&rft.pages=429-492&rft.date=2009&rft_id=info%3Ahdl%2F11858%2F00-001M-0000-0012-C29E-4&rft_id=info%3Apmid%2F19857320&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1017%2FS0140525X0999094X&rft.aulast=Evans&rft.aufirst=Nicolas&rft.au=Levinson%2C+Stephen+C.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1017%252FS0140525X0999094X&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ALinguistic+universal" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sources">Sources</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Sources"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Brown, Cecil H. (1976) "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/ae.1976.3.3.02a00020">General principles of human anatomical partonomy and speculations on the growth of partonomic nomenclature</a>." <i>American Ethnologist</i> 3, no. 3, Folk Biology, pp. 400–424</li> <li>Comrie, Bernard (1981) <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=kf-shTfcaPEC">Language Universals and Linguistic Typology</a>.</i> Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</li> <li>Croft, W. (2002). <i>Typology and Universals</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 2nd ed. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-00499-3" title="Special:BookSources/0-521-00499-3">0-521-00499-3</a></li> <li>Dryer, Matthew S. (1998) "Why Statistical Universals are Better Than Absolute Universals" Chicago Linguistic Society 33: The Panels, pp. 123–145.</li> <li>Enfield, Nick J. & <a href="/wiki/Asifa_Majid" title="Asifa Majid">Asifa Majid</a> & Miriam van Staden (2006) 'Cross-linguistic categorisation of the body: Introduction' (special issue of <i>Language Sciences</i>).</li> <li>Ferguson, Charles A. (1968) 'Historical background of universals research'. In: Greenberg, Ferguson, & Moravcsik, <i>Universals of human languages</i>, pp. 7–31.</li> <li>Goddard, Cliff and Wierzbicka, Anna (eds.). 1994. <i>Semantic and Lexical Universals - Theory and Empirical Findings</i>. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.</li> <li>Goddard, Cliff (2002) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160307104823/https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/347542/goddard-2002.pdf">"The search for the shared semantic core of all languages"</a>. In Goddard & Wierzbicka (eds.) <i>Meaning and Universal Grammar - Theory and Empirical Findings</i> volume 1, pp. 5–40, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.</li> <li>Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.) (1963) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/universalsoflang00unse"><i>Universals of Language</i></a>. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.</li> <li>Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.) (1978a) <i>Universals of Human Language</i> Vol. 4: <i>Syntax</i>. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.</li> <li>Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.) (1978b) <i>Universals of Human Language</i> Vol. 3: <i>Word Structure</i>. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.</li> <li>Heine, Bernd (1997) <i>Cognitive Foundations of Grammar</i>. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.</li> <li>Song, Jae Jung (2001) <i>Linguistic Typology: Morphology and Syntax</i>. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education (Longman).</li> <li>Song, Jae Jung (ed.) (2011) <i>Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Typology</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</li> <li>Rosch, E. & Mervis, C.B. & Gray, W.D. & Johnson, D.M. & Boyes-Braem, P. (1976) 'Basic Objects In Natural Categories', <i>Cognitive Psychology</i> 8-3, 382-439.</li> <li>Wilkins, David P. (1993) ‘From part to person: natural tendencies of semantic change and the search for cognates’, <i>Working paper No. 23</i>, Cognitive Anthropology Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Linguistic_universal&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100920162920/http://ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de/Korean/Artikel02/">Some Universals of Grammar with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements</a> by Joseph H. Greenberg</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://typo.uni-konstanz.de/rara/category/universals-archive/">The Universals Archive</a> by the University of Konstanz</li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist 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4em"><a href="/wiki/Second-language_acquisition" title="Second-language acquisition">Second-language acquisition</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">General</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Outline_of_second-language_acquisition" title="Outline of second-language acquisition">Outline</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions_about_language_learning" title="List of common misconceptions about language learning">Common misconceptions</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Subfields</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Second_language_attrition" class="mw-redirect" title="Second language attrition">Attrition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second-language_acquisition_classroom_research" title="Second-language acquisition classroom research">Classroom research</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second-language_education" class="mw-redirect" title="Second-language education">Education</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second_language_phonology" class="mw-redirect" title="Second language phonology">Phonology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Second_language_writing" title="Second language writing">Writing</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Learners</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Multilingualism" title="Multilingualism">Multilingualism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Heritage_language_learning" title="Heritage language learning">Heritage language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Multi-competence" title="Multi-competence">Multi-competence</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Learner language</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Contrastive_analysis" title="Contrastive analysis">Contrastive analysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Contrastive_rhetoric" title="Contrastive rhetoric">Contrastive rhetoric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Error_(linguistics)" title="Error (linguistics)">Error (linguistics)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Error_analysis_(linguistics)" title="Error analysis (linguistics)">Error analysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Error_treatment_(linguistics)" title="Error treatment (linguistics)">Error treatment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interlanguage" title="Interlanguage">Interlanguage</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Silent_period" title="Silent period">Silent period</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Linguistic factors</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Language_transfer" title="Language transfer">Language transfer</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Linguistic universal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Word_lists_by_frequency" class="mw-redirect" title="Word lists by frequency">Word lists by frequency</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Individual_variation_in_second_language_acquisition" class="mw-redirect" title="Individual variation in second language acquisition">Individual variation</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Language-learning_aptitude" title="Language-learning aptitude">Language-learning aptitude</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis" title="Critical period hypothesis">Critical period hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Motivation_in_second-language_learning" title="Motivation in second-language learning">Motivation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Willingness_to_communicate" title="Willingness to communicate">Willingness to communicate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Foreign_language_anxiety" title="Foreign language anxiety">Foreign language anxiety</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metalinguistic_awareness" title="Metalinguistic awareness">Metalinguistic awareness</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Strategies</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Language_learning_strategies" title="Language learning strategies">Language learning strategies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Communication_strategies_in_second_language_acquisition" class="mw-redirect" title="Communication strategies in second language acquisition">Communication strategies</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Code-switching" title="Code-switching">Code-switching</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Good_language_learner_studies" title="Good language learner studies">Good language learner studies</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Theories_of_second-language_acquisition" title="Theories of second-language acquisition">SLA hypotheses</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Competition_model" title="Competition model">Competition model</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comprehensible_output" title="Comprehensible output">Comprehensible output</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Connectionism" title="Connectionism">Connectionism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dynamic_approach_to_second_language_development" class="mw-redirect" title="Dynamic approach to second language development">Dynamic Systems Theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Generative_second-language_acquisition" title="Generative second-language acquisition">Generative second-language acquisition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Input_hypothesis" title="Input hypothesis">Input hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interaction_hypothesis" title="Interaction hypothesis">Interaction hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interface_hypothesis" title="Interface hypothesis">Interface hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interface_position" title="Interface position">Interface position</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Noticing_hypothesis" title="Noticing hypothesis">Noticing hypothesis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Processability_theory" title="Processability theory">Processability theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Order_of_acquisition" title="Order of acquisition">Order of acquisition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Skill-based_theories_of_second-language_acquisition" title="Skill-based theories of second-language acquisition">Skill-based theories</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Second_language_acquisition_classroom_research" class="mw-redirect" title="Second language acquisition classroom research">In the classroom</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Focus_on_form" title="Focus on form">Focus on form</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Input_enhancement" title="Input enhancement">Input enhancement</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Aptitude tests</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Language_Aptitude_Test" title="Modern Language Aptitude Test">MLAT</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Defense_Language_Aptitude_Battery" title="Defense Language Aptitude Battery">DLAB</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pimsleur_Language_Aptitude_Battery" title="Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery">PLAB</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/CANAL-F" title="CANAL-F">CANAL-F</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Notable researchers</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Charles_Alderson" title="Charles Alderson">Alderson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alexander_Arg%C3%BCelles" title="Alexander Argüelles">Argüelles</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ellen_Bialystok" title="Ellen Bialystok">Bialystok</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/John_Bissell_Carroll" title="John Bissell Carroll">Carroll</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scott_Crossley" title="Scott Crossley">Crossley</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kata_Csiz%C3%A9r" title="Kata Csizér">Csizér</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alister_Cumming" title="Alister Cumming">Cumming</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kees_de_Bot" title="Kees de Bot">de Bot</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/H._Douglas_Brown" title="H. Douglas Brown">Brown</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Bygate" title="Martin Bygate">Bygate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pit_Corder" title="Pit Corder">Corder</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marijn_van_Dijk" title="Marijn van Dijk">van Dijk</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_D%C3%B6rnyei" title="Zoltán Dörnyei">Dörnyei</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nick_Ellis" title="Nick Ellis">Ellis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rod_Ellis" title="Rod Ellis">Ellis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Susan_M._Ervin-Tripp" title="Susan M. Ervin-Tripp">Ervin-Tripp</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Suzanne_Flynn" title="Suzanne Flynn">Flynn</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Susan_Gass" title="Susan Gass">Gass</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_van_Geert" title="Paul van Geert">van Geert</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/David_W._Green_(psychologist)" title="David W. Green (psychologist)">Green</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Grosjean" title="François Grosjean">Grosjean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martin_Guardado" title="Martin Guardado">Guardado</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Luke_Harding" title="Luke Harding">Harding</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scott_Jarvis" title="Scott Jarvis">Jarvis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Keith_Johnson_(applied_linguist)" title="Keith Johnson (applied linguist)">Johnson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judit_Kormos" title="Judit Kormos">Kormos</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stephen_Krashen" title="Stephen Krashen">Krashen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judith_F._Kroll" title="Judith F. Kroll">Kroll</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Diane_Larsen-Freeman" title="Diane Larsen-Freeman">Larsen-Freeman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ping_Li_(psychologist)" title="Ping Li (psychologist)">Li</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_Long_(academic)" class="mw-redirect" title="Michael Long (academic)">Long</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wander_Lowie" title="Wander Lowie">Lowie</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alison_Mackey" title="Alison Mackey">Mackey</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Brian_MacWhinney" title="Brian MacWhinney">MacWhinney</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rosa_Manch%C3%B3n" title="Rosa Manchón">Manchón</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Viorica_Marian" title="Viorica Marian">Marian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Kei_Matsuda" title="Paul Kei Matsuda">Matsuda</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Stephen_Matthews_(linguist)" title="Stephen Matthews (linguist)">Matthews</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jurgen_M._Meisel" title="Jurgen M. Meisel">Meisel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carol_Myers-Scotton" title="Carol Myers-Scotton">Myers-Scotton</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Nation" title="Paul Nation">Nation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lourdes_Ortega" title="Lourdes Ortega">Ortega</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Teresa_P._Pica" title="Teresa P. Pica">Pica</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Charlene_Polio" title="Charlene Polio">Polio</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paul_Pimsleur" title="Paul Pimsleur">Pimsleur</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wilga_Rivers" title="Wilga Rivers">Rivers</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Richard_Schmidt_(linguist)" title="Richard Schmidt (linguist)">Schmidt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Norbert_Schmitt" title="Norbert Schmitt">Schmitt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Carmen_Silva-Corvalan" title="Carmen Silva-Corvalan">Silva-Corvalan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dan_Slobin" title="Dan Slobin">Slobin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neomy_Storch" title="Neomy Storch">Storch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Merrill_Swain" title="Merrill Swain">Swain</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tracy_D._Terrell" title="Tracy D. Terrell">Terrell</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michael_T._Ullman" title="Michael T. Ullman">Ullman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jyotsna_Vaid" title="Jyotsna Vaid">Vaid</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bill_VanPatten" title="Bill VanPatten">VanPatten</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marjolijn_Verspoor" title="Marjolijn Verspoor">Verspoor</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lydia_White" title="Lydia White">White</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alison_Wray" title="Alison Wray">Wray</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Virginia_Yip" title="Virginia Yip">Yip</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Associations</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/European_Association_for_the_Teaching_of_Academic_Writing" title="European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing">European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/European_Second_Language_Association" title="European Second Language Association">EUROSLA</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Computational tools</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Coh-Metrix" title="Coh-Metrix">Coh-Metrix</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/L2_Syntactic_Complexity_Analyzer" title="L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer">L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Journals</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Applied_Linguistics_(journal)" title="Applied Linguistics (journal)">Applied Linguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bilingualism:_Language_and_Cognition" title="Bilingualism: Language and Cognition">Bilingualism: Language and Cognition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Language_Learning_(journal)" title="Language Learning (journal)">Language Learning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Language_Testing" title="Language Testing">Language Testing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Journal_of_Second_Language_Writing" title="Journal of Second Language Writing">Journal of Second Language Writing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/System_(journal)" title="System (journal)">System</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/TESOL_Journal" title="TESOL Journal">TESOL Journal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/TESOL_Quarterly" title="TESOL Quarterly">TESOL Quarterly</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/The_Modern_Language_Journal" title="The Modern Language Journal">The Modern Language Journal</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236075235"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Long-range_comparative_linguistics" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Long-range_comparative_linguistics" title="Template:Long-range comparative linguistics"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Long-range_comparative_linguistics" title="Template talk:Long-range comparative linguistics"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Long-range_comparative_linguistics" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Long-range comparative linguistics"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="Long-range_comparative_linguistics" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em">Long-range <a href="/wiki/Comparative_linguistics" title="Comparative linguistics">comparative linguistics</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparative_method" title="Comparative method">Comparative method</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Etymological_dictionary" title="Etymological dictionary">Etymological dictionary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glottochronology" title="Glottochronology">Glottochronology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lexicostatistics" title="Lexicostatistics">Lexicostatistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linguistic_reconstruction" title="Linguistic reconstruction">Linguistic reconstruction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Internal_reconstruction" title="Internal reconstruction">Internal reconstruction</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Linguistic universal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Macrofamily" title="Macrofamily">Macrofamily</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mass_comparison" title="Mass comparison">Mass comparison</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Origin_of_language" title="Origin of language">Origin of language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paleolinguistics" title="Paleolinguistics">Paleolinguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-language" title="Proto-language">Proto-language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swadesh_list" title="Swadesh list">Swadesh list</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dolgopolsky_list" title="Dolgopolsky list">Dolgopolsky list</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Leipzig%E2%80%93Jakarta_list" title="Leipzig–Jakarta list">Leipzig–Jakarta list</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Language families</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Proto-human_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-human language">Proto-human</a></i></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Borean_languages" title="Borean languages">Borean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Amerind_languages" title="Amerind languages">Amerind</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nostratic_languages" title="Nostratic languages">Nostratic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Elamo-Dravidian_languages" title="Elamo-Dravidian languages">Elamo-Dravidian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eurasiatic_languages" title="Eurasiatic languages">Eurasiatic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Altaic_languages" title="Altaic languages">Altaic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ural-Altaic_languages" title="Ural-Altaic languages">Ural-Altaic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indo-Uralic_languages" title="Indo-Uralic languages">Indo-Uralic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sino-Uralic_languages" title="Sino-Uralic languages">Sino-Uralic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Den%C3%A9%E2%80%93Caucasian_languages" title="Dené–Caucasian languages">Dené–Caucasian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/North_Caucasian_languages" title="North Caucasian languages">North Caucasian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Austric_languages" title="Austric languages">Austric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indo-Pacific_languages" title="Indo-Pacific languages">Indo-Pacific</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Linguists</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/John_Bengtson" title="John Bengtson">John Bengtson</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Bla%C5%BEek" title="Václav Blažek">Václav Blažek</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Allan_R._Bomhard" title="Allan R. Bomhard">Allan R. Bomhard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Svetlana_Burlak" title="Svetlana Burlak">Svetlana Burlak</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Aharon_Dolgopolsky" title="Aharon Dolgopolsky">Aharon Dolgopolsky</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vladimir_Dybo" title="Vladimir Dybo">Vladimir Dybo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Harold_C._Fleming" title="Harold C. Fleming">Harold C. Fleming</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Joseph_Greenberg" title="Joseph Greenberg">Joseph Greenberg</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Eugene_Helimski" title="Eugene Helimski">Eugene Helimski</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann" title="Murray Gell-Mann">Murray Gell-Mann</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vladislav_Illich-Svitych" title="Vladislav Illich-Svitych">Vladislav Illich-Svitych</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Frederik_Kortlandt" title="Frederik Kortlandt">Frederik Kortlandt</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alexis_Manaster_Ramer" title="Alexis Manaster Ramer">Alexis Manaster Ramer</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sergei_Nikolaev_(linguist)" title="Sergei Nikolaev (linguist)">Sergei Nikolaev</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sorin_Paliga" title="Sorin Paliga">Sorin Paliga</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Holger_Pedersen_(linguist)" title="Holger Pedersen (linguist)">Holger Pedersen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ilia_Peiros" title="Ilia Peiros">Ilia Peiros</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Martine_Robbeets" title="Martine Robbeets">Martine Robbeets</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Merritt_Ruhlen" title="Merritt Ruhlen">Merritt Ruhlen</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vitaly_Shevoroshkin" title="Vitaly Shevoroshkin">Vitaly Shevoroshkin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Georgiy_Starostin" title="Georgiy Starostin">Georgiy Starostin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sergei_Starostin" title="Sergei Starostin">Sergei Starostin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alfredo_Trombetti" title="Alfredo Trombetti">Alfredo Trombetti</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Journals</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Journal_of_Language_Relationship" title="Journal of Language Relationship">Journal of Language Relationship</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Mother_Tongue_(journal)" title="Mother Tongue (journal)">Mother Tongue</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Books</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Etymological_Dictionary_of_the_Altaic_Languages" title="Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages">Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Languages_of_Africa" title="The Languages of Africa">The Languages of Africa</a></i></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Institutions and schools</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Evolution_of_Human_Languages" title="Evolution of Human Languages">Evolution of Human Languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Institute_of_Linguistics_of_the_Russian_Academy_of_Sciences" title="Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences">Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moscow_School_of_Comparative_Linguistics" title="Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics">Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russian_State_University_for_the_Humanities" title="Russian State University for the Humanities">Russian State University for the Humanities</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Santa_Fe_Institute" title="Santa Fe Institute">Santa Fe Institute</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Symbol_portal_class.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Portal"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/16px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png" decoding="async" width="16" height="16" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Symbol_portal_class.svg/23px-Symbol_portal_class.svg.png 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