Perception verb complements in Akatek, a Mayan language

3. DATA 15
to be applicable cross-linguistically, i.e. to all languages. The third
approach, comparative typology, integrates the view of languages as
having basic underlying `plans' with the detailed investigation of a large
number of features and the way those are dependent on or independent
from other features, so that only very few languages can be taken into
consideration.
2.4. Summary. In this section, I have provided an overview of
the development of linguistic typology. Currently, most typological
research focuses on the investigation of cross-linguistic patterns with
the goal of establishing implicational hierarchies. I presented three
di erent perspectives from which typologists undertake their studies.
Researchers adhering to holistic typology view language as an organic
whole and therefore aim at the complete characterization of a language
based on a small number of typological characteristics. The idea that
languages have a certain basic plan justi es that only a small number of
features, the ones considered relevant or highly characteristic, is taken
into consideration. The goal of holistic typology is the classi cation
of the languages of the world. In partial typology the investigation is
restricted to single constructions or phenomena like e.g. word order,
case marking, or relative clause constructions. The hierarchical organization
of the di erent realizations of a construction allows the positing
of implicative correlations. The goal of partial typology is to establish
cross-linguistic generalizations. Finally, comparative typology involves
only a small number of languages, but a large number of properties is
investigated. Comparative typologists reject the limitation of the investigation
to single constructions. They consider languages as `wholes'
as in the holistic approach, but advocate looking at as many features as
possible and at the way they interact. As a result, only a few languages
can be compared. 8
3. Data
Since solid typological generalizations are based on detailed analyses
of a wide range of di erent languages, recourse to secondary data
seems unavoidable. This is due to the fact that no individual linguist
can provide detailed analyses of many languages. Secondary sources,
however, either do not provide the required information or they are
problematic regarding the accuracy of the data. A major problem is
the diverging and often unde ned use of terminology. In addition, the
selection and interpretation of the data in secondary sources is often
8 For an overview of the currently active schools of language typology refer to
Shibatani & Bynon (1995).