Modern linguistic typology is increasingly less concerned with what is possible in human
languages (universals) and increasingly more with the question “what's where why?”(Bickel …

Using three worldwide databases, we investigate how average similarity between pairs of
languages and cultures are influenced by geographic distance and time of common …

A central methodological issue in language typology is sampling how to choose a
representative set of languages for a typological investigation. Most proposed typological …

While the notion of the 'area'or 'Sprachbund'has a long history in linguistics, with
geographically-defined regions frequently cited as a useful means to explain typological …

This article starts by defining the object of linguistic typology as cross-linguistic variation and
language diversity. It contrasts linguistic typology with another influential approach to cross …

Like the transfer of genetic variation through gene flow, language changes constantly as a
result of its use in human interaction. Contact between speakers is most likely to happen …

As the title announces, this volume is devoted to lexical typology—but what is lexical
typology? In the view of the editors of this special issue, it is the systematic study of …

Atkinson (2011) sets out to test the so-called “serial founder model” against crosslinguistic
data on phonological diversity. In his words (Atkinson 2011: Supporting Online Material: 3) …

Dialectologists and typologists both deal with linguistic variation and have more to say to
each other than has been realised in the past. If the definition of dialect vs. language is …

Research in linguistic typology is providing us with ever-improving insights into the ränge of
structures available in human languages. However, we do not yet have adequate …