engineering

World Atlas of Language Structures

World Atlas of Language Structures is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand World Atlas of Language Structures rather than just read about it. In short: The World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) is a database of structural (phonological, grammatical, lexical) properties of languages gathered from descriptive materials. It was first published by Oxford University Press as a book with CD-ROM in 2005, and was released as the second edition on the Internet in April 2008 (WALS Online).

Key takeaways

World Atlas of Language Structures belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect World Atlas of Language Structures to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of World Atlas of Language Structures from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) is a database of structural (phonological, grammatical, lexical) properties of languages gathered from descriptive materials. It was first published by Oxford University Press as a book with CD-ROM in 2005, and was released as the second edition on the Internet in April 2008 (WALS Online). It is maintained by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and by the Max Planck Digital Library. The editors are Martin Haspelmath, Matthew S. Dryer, David Gil and Bernard Comrie. The atlas provides information on the location, linguistic affiliation and basic typological features of a great number of the world's languages. It interacts with OpenStreetMap maps. The information of the atlas is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. It is part of the Cross-Linguistic Linked Data project hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

See also Intercontinental Dictionary Series

References

External links Official website Download WALS Interactive Reference Tool (obsolete – Windows XP or Mac PowerPC) Conlang Atlas of Language Structures Archived May 23, 2024, at the Wayback Machine. Inspired by WALS, it includes some of the information contained in WALS and adds data about many constructed languages.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with World Atlas of Language Structures

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what World Atlas of Language Structures claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to World Atlas of Language Structures before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about World Atlas of Language Structures ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of World Atlas of Language Structures

In research: World Atlas of Language Structures appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses World Atlas of Language Structures in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: World Atlas of Language Structures is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2005 non-fiction books, Comparative linguistics, Creative Commons-licensed databases, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for World Atlas of Language Structures outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study World Atlas of Language Structures in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what World Atlas of Language Structures means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain World Atlas of Language Structures out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is World Atlas of Language Structures in simple terms?

Why does World Atlas of Language Structures matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study World Atlas of Language Structures?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on World Atlas of Language Structures.