Рідкісні та унікальні явища в мовах світу: чому вони цікаві не тільки типологам? 2

This article provides an overview of rare and unique phenomena in the world's languages as an important but insufficiently explored dimension of linguistic typology. While linguistic research has traditionally focused on identifying what languages have in common, recent studies increasingly draw attention to the specific and the exceptional. The paper presents examples of linguistic «unique features» across various levels: phonetic (exotic phonemes, extreme inventories of vowels and consonants, unusual prosodic patterns), morphological (unique cases, the highest number of cases, rare grammatical categories and classifiers), syntactic (atypical word order), lexical (distinctive vocabulary, unusual ratios of native to borrowed items), graphic (unique graphemes, alphabets, writing systems), and orthographic (non-standard capitalization and punctuation practices, degrees of correspondence between pronunciation and spelling). The discussion also covers other rare features: atypical dialectal division within a language, a sharp gap between vernacular varieties and the literary standard, the existence of multiple standards, the antiquity of a written tradition and preservation of archaic traits, special positions of languages within genealogical classification, and more. The article shows that a language's distinctiveness may be expressed not only through individual unique features, but also through an inimitable combination of typological traits that are not unique in themselves. Such features not only shape a language's distinctive profile, but also underpin its individuality and, ultimately, contribute to the linguistic and national diversity of the planet. For this reason, they should be examined not only within the scope of linguistic typology, but also from the perspectives of sociolinguistics, ecolinguistics, ethnolinguistics, and language pedagogy. Continued research into linguistic «unique features» is essential for a fuller and more objective understanding of humanity's linguistic landscape.