Abstract
This paper uses Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to re-analyze the linguistic data studied in Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh (1995a). Tsunoda et al. (1995a) applied cluster analyses to the word order parameters in Tsunoda, Ueda, and Itoh’s (1995b) database and identified as the main component the word order parameter category "prepositional," thus positing a basic dichotomy between prepositional languages versus adpositionless and postpositional languages. We reanalyze the same data using MCA, together with certain clustering techniques, applied to both the languages and the linguistic parameters in Tsunoda et al.’s (1995b) database simultaneously. This approach confirms the significance of word order parameters involving adposition but suggests a reconsideration of Tsunoda et al.’s (1995a) classification. We find a dichotomy between a cluster of "head-initial" (prepositional, verb-object, and noun-genitive) parameter categories versus a cluster of “head-final” (postpositional, object-verb, and genitive-noun) parameter categories similar to those often grouped together by linguists on the basis of informal cross-linguistic observations. We also find that Noun Phrase internal word order parameters, excepting parameter governing the order of noun and genitive, cluster separately from the others.
