We need world-wide corpus-based typology: A parallel corpus study of restrictives ('only')

Résumé

Language is a tool for communication in concrete use and there are several thousand languages; hence, approaches that are both corpus-linguistically and typologically informed must play an important role in linguistics. This is demonstrated in an investigation of the generally expressed meaning (GEM) 'only', considered here in translations of the New Testament. It is shown that restrictives are universal (are attested in all 121 languages of a stratified sample from 121 language families and isolates), that the generally expressed meaning (GEM) 'only' differs considerably from the parochially expressed meaning (PEM) of English only, that restriction plays an important role in discourse and that the use of restrictives exhibits hemispheric differences with the Pacific and the Afro-Eurasian linguistic hemispheres reflecting partly different usage patterns. It is argued that these differences are deeply rooted in discourse (parole) rather than grammar and lexicon (langue) and are so common in discourse that they percolate to written Bible translations.