Latest Content

• Case and agreement variation in contact 2024-04-25
  Abstract This study investigates the influence of language contact on morphosyntactic variation in World Englishes, specifically focusing on the joint variation of case and agreement in it-clefts with pronominal clefted constituents. Employing a multifactorial approach within the framework of probabilistic grammar, we examine the distribution of the four relevant it-cleft variants in the GloWbE corpus. […]
• Jinghpaw loanword typology 2024-04-25
  Abstract Jinghpaw is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in northern Burma and adjacent areas of China and India. The language is known for both its conservative nature (e.g., comparative Tibeto-Burman linguistics) and the innovative nature of its speakers (e.g., social anthropology of highland Burma). In view of this duality, this paper explores the Jinghpaw lexicon asking […]
• Koineization and the Pamphylian alphabet 2024-04-25
  Abstract In the Hellenistic age, contact with the Ionic alphabet used to write koine Greek rapidly changed the Pamphylian alphabet, initiating the processes of koineization and standardization. The analysis of three case studies (personal names with -muu̯a; personal names built from the root ϝαναξ-; -αυ and -ευ diphthongs) shows how the need to write dialectal […]
• Phonological, lexical and grammatical borrowings and replications in Hyow, a language of the Bangladesh-Burma border area 2024-04-25
  Abstract This paper presents a discussion of contact-induced borrowings and replications in Hyow, a Southeastern South Central (SC) Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Hyow shows two layers of contact-induced changes: an earlier layer under the influence of Burmese, and a more recent layer under the influence of Bangla. The Hyow […]
• Geolinguistic approach to migration history in the south-eastern edge of the Tibetosphere 2024-04-25
  Abstract This article examines the migration history of Tibetic language-speaking people in the south-eastern corner of the Tibetosphere, particularly the origin of Sangdam Tibetan, spoken in Kachin State, Myanmar, by adopting a geolinguistic approach with linguistic maps. It first presents the current research progress of geolinguistics in the region and then discusses phonological and lexical […]
• Specificity contrasts in Lalo Yi 2024-04-25
  Abstract Lalo Yi (Tibeto-Burman; China) makes systematic distinctions in the encoding of specificity with numerically-quantified nominals. Whereas specific indefinite NPs involve the presence of an article nikhe in an NP-internal position [Noun nikhe Numeral Classifier], non-specific existentially-asserted indefinites require the use of a syntactically discontinuous floating quantifier pattern [NP…Numeral-Classifier…]. A third, distinctive patterning is found […]
• A proposal for a formalized, expandable approach to the taxonomy of writing systems 2024-04-25
  Abstract In this paper we propose a formalized and expandable approach to the taxonomy of writing systems. Taking the mixed nature of writing systems fully into account, our approach focuses on the classification of functionally homogenous subsystems, which together and in interaction with each other constitute an overall writing system. Such subsystems make use of […]
• Ethnolinguistic contact across the Indo-Myanmar-Southwestern China mountains 2024-04-25
• Chaos or system? 2024-04-25
  Abstract This paper seeks to reassess the balance between chaos and systematicity within the Japanese writing system (JWS), which is noted for its complexity. As potential factors for chaos, Section 2 focuses on two important conventions. The first is the simultaneous use of multiple scripts as components of a largely systematic whole, even though it also […]
• More matters of typology 2024-04-25
  Abstract Since their coinage a quarter-century ago, the terms abugida and alphasyllabary (Bright 1999; Daniels & Bright 1996) have revolutionised our conceptualisation of writing systems. Together with alphabet, these terms have proven invaluable in classifying subtypes of segmentaries–writing systems whose grain size is the phonological segment (Gnanadesikan 2017). Nevertheless, there remain areas of ambiguity. Segmentaries […]
• Review of Fotiadou (2022): The Language of Employability: A Corpus-Based Analysis of UK University Websites 2024-04-25
• Towards cultivating plurilingual selves in early-years foreign language learning 2024-04-25
  Abstract Although plurilingualism has been extensively researched in the area of foreign-language education and identity formation, no such effort has been equally documented outside the European context. In view of this disparity, the present article focuses on this research area in a context where the mainstream language learning experience ascribes only peripheral importance to the […]
• Reconstructing the decoupling of case and agreement in Old Hungarian 2024-04-25
  Abstract The interdependence of accusative case and object agreement has changed dramatically during the history of Ugric languages. While Proto-Ugric exhibited full interdependence (mediated by topicality), this connection has loosened in the extant Ob-Ugric languages (Mansi and Khanty), and it is severed completely in Late to Modern Hungarian. In this paper, I introduce new, hitherto […]
• Manifestations of Jinghpaw influence among Rawang speakers 2024-04-25
  Abstract Rawang and Jinghpaw, while both considered part of the larger Kachin ethnic group, are not seen to be closely related, though both retain proto-Tibeto-Burman forms relatively well. But as essentially all Rawang speakers speak Jinghpaw, there are a lot of loan words from Jinghpaw in Rawang, and there is also some commonality in the […]
• Latin <XS>: Seeing double 2024-04-25
  Abstract We can observe a systematic reorganization of the Latin Spelling System in the II and I centuries BC. We will focus on the etiology and diffusion of spelling for the /ks/ cluster instead of , highlighting the interplay between centripetal and centrifugal forces in the standardization process. Its etiology and further diffusion will be […]
• Homeland of Karenic languages 2024-04-25
  Abstract Comparisons of plant names in Karenic languages reveal that names that can be traced back to Proto-Karen belong to plants that grow in temperate zones, such as bamboo, banyan, and mango. The names for coconut and palmyra palm, which are typical tropical plants, cannot be traced back to Proto-Karen and are borrowings. This suggests […]
• On the systematic nature of writing systems 2024-04-25
• Linguistic similarities between Asho Chin and Burmese 2024-04-25
  Abstract Asho Chin (ISO 639-3: csh), also known as Plains Chin, is a Kuki-Chin language spoken mainly in the southwestern areas of Myanmar, where Burmese is the dominant language. This paper presents a qualitative linguistic analysis to explore the similarities between Asho Chin and Burmese. The analysis reveals a significant influence of Burmese on Asho […]
• The standardisation of spelling in Middle English 2024-04-25
  Abstract The standardisation of English spelling is widely assumed to have happened, or at least started, during the fifteenth century, with a variety of theories about the location and spread of the process. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of a single spelling feature: the vowel in the word said. It demonstrates that there were […]
• The role of cognitive schemas in linguistic convergence 2024-04-25
  Abstract This article reports on some outcomes of language contact and linguistic convergence involving Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan languages in the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland. The primary focus falls on Nagamese, a lingua franca of the region that is undergoing a change in its morphosyntactic alignment typology. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that cognitive schemas […]