A sampling technique for worldwide comparisons of language contact scenarios.

ABSTRACT: Existing sampling methods in language typology strive to control for areal biases in typological datasets as a means to avoid contact effects in the distribution of linguistic structure. However, none of these methods provide ways to directly compare contact scenarios from a typological perspective. This paper addresses this gap by introducing a sampling procedure for worldwide comparisons of language contact scenarios. The sampling unit consists of sets of three languages. The Focus Language is the language whose structures we examine in search for contact effects; the Neighbor Language is genealogically unrelated to the Focus Language, and counts as the potential source of contact influence on the Focus Language; the Benchmark Language is a relative of the Focus Language neither in conta

SUBMITTER: Di Garbo F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10551743 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature