Page 44 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

and found some tendencies that can be attested in languages (Comrie 1989:15-6). The
statements made about the linguistic properties without referring to any other element

are absolute universals, such as the statement 'all languages have oral vowels'. On the
other hand, the statements that relate "the presence of one property to the presence of
some other property, i.e., a given property must, or can only, be present if the other

property is also present, such as 'if a language has first/second person reflexives, then
it has the third person reflexives'"(Comrie 1989:17). It also proposes some parameters

for the typological study of phonology, morphology and syntax, and sets some rules
2
for avoiding biasness while selecting languages for typological studies. Givón
(2001a:23) explains the functional-typological approach go grammar as "in
grammatical typology, one enumerates the main structural means by which different

languages code the same functional domain".
Thus, it is Givón (1984/1990, 2001a and 2001b) that interlinked the
typological approach to grammar with the functional approach to language and

developed a theoretical framework 'functional-typological grammar', though Dik
(1978), Greenberg et al. (1978), and Givón (1979) have made a great contribution to

its development. Cristofaro (2003), Dixon and Aikhenvald (2004), Bhat (2004) and
Shopen (1985, 2007a, 2007b and 2007c) among others have contributed for its further

enrichment as a cumulative framework which has gradually been developed over the
past few decades.

It is diachronic in nature for an attempt to explain the language at the level of
language change. Functionalists believe there is, sometimes, a competition in the
motivating factors. Dryer (2006:213) states that "once one motivation 'wins', then that

is the way the language is". Certain aspects of language structures depending upon the
language function is the distinguishing feature of the functional-typological approach.

Therefore, the functional-typological research is interested in correspondence between
the linguistic structures and the functional domain. Thus the individual
morphosyntactic features and the functional domains they are associated with may not

be similar cross-linguistically what functional-typologists argue because each
individual language is unique.

2. "In attempting to construct a grammatical typology by purely structural means, one must first decide
why structure A (in language a) and structure B (in language b) should be grouped together as sub-
types of structural meta-type I; while structure C (in language C) and structure D (in language D)
should be grouped together as sub-type of structural meta-type II" (Givón 2001a:20).
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