5 1237 sum basic word order remarks typology fritz newmeyer raises important issues typological research instantiated nichols work elsewhere call comments first notion language type idealization often made clear typology courses nonexistent artificial languages considered logically possible impossible language types always published literature though point clearly made comrie textbook example discussion morphological typology similarly fritz quite right point assumption areal genetic bias extent made counterfactual one would ask whether idealizations differ kind many counterfactual underlie generative grammar justification similar cases methodologically one deal relevant variables time concepts used logically independent extrinsic variables e g one investigate consistency proposed implicational universals regardless statistical bias one sample term shaky typological pigeonholing particularly inapt applied nichols distinction headmarking dependent marking languages quite explicitly matter degree see 1986 paper degree hm vs dm quantifified terms number patterns instantiating type nichols refers headmarking language shorthand quantifiable tendency might describe italian prodrop language without implying binary distinction fact degrees prodrop e g languages allow null expletives null referential subjects etc another point think typologists would accept languages nt appear match established type typological data example colloquial french discussed recently linguist language might reasonably described basic word order believe nichols classified vso one tables shorthand complex situation explanandum nichols 1986 paper offers explanation headmarking facilitates word order freedom colloquial french instantiates clausal headmarking nichols sense sum pace widespread opinion typologists goal pigeonholing taxonomy also widely used context investigation explanation patterns variation steve matthews