L’INSULARITÀ COME PARAMETRO DI ANALISI TIPOLOGICA

Within the field of linguistic typology, the notion that particular patterns of variation may be conditioned by social and environmental elements is firmly established. For example, there seems to be evidence that certain patterns of societies and certain types of habitats can trigger phenomena of linguistic simplification or complexification, leading grammar to assume a more analytical or a more synthetic configuration respectively. The possible effect of the environment on linguistic evolution is one of the analogies between linguistic studies and evolutionary sciences. In this contribution I analyse a possible environmental parameter that has never been studied systematically in the field of linguistics: insularity. Islands can have direct effects on the evolution of species, for example in the phenomenon of so-called island dwarfism. Is there a counterpart of this phenomenon in linguistic change? The data analysed in this contribution seem to suggest a negative answer. Insularity is not a factor that can affect linguistic change directly, but it can undoubtedly reinforce trends that are already taking place.