10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13473
Welcome to Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads (LTC), a new journal dedicated to the crossroads where linguistic typology meets its neighboring fields.
A crossroads is not only and necessarily a place where a choice must be made: this is the point of view of the traveler, wondering which way to go. If we take a bird’s-eye view and observe the crossroads from above, we see much more than choices. A Crossroads is the place where different directions, and different travelers, meet or follow each other. Thanks to the crossroads, it is possible to change and exchange, and the very concept of ‘step forward’ opens itself to diagonals and curves. The crossroads is where future is imagined and innovation occurs, thanks to the reciprocal influence of intersecting perspectives.
Crossroads means meeting, exchanging, converging, choosing, diverging, changing, and possibly making the difference.
This journal aims to take the point of view of the crossroads, capturing the moment when linguistic typology intersects other fields, changing and exchanging methods, theories and data, in the belief that a closer look at the crossroads may reveal converging paths and new directions to go.
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2785-0943
13473
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Andrea Sansò
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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads
Editorial paper
Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads
Text.Serial.Journal
https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/
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Editorial
2021-08-31
2021-08-27
2021-08-31
2021-10-11
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LTC
Andrea Sansò
2021/08/31
10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13473
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University of Insubria
2785-0943
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Editorial paper
en
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<p>Ultan, Russell 1972. Some features of basic comparative constructions. <em>Working Papers on Language Universals (Stanford)</em> 9. 117–162.</p>
Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads
https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/download/13473/13131
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                Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 1-5      ISSN 2785-0943



                    Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads

CATERINA MAURI2, NICOLA GRANDI2, FRANCESCA DI GARBO1, ANDREA SANSÒ3
          1
              UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, 2UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA, 3UNIVERSITY OF INSUBRIA




1 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,                    11 And both that morning equally lay
   And sorry I could not travel both                           In leaves no step had trodden black.
   And be one traveler, long I stood                           Oh, I kept the first for another day!
   And looked down one as far as I could                       Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
   To where it bent in the undergrowth;                        I doubted if I should ever come back.


6 Then took the other, as just as fair,                   16 I shall be telling this with a sigh
   And having perhaps the better claim,                        Somewhere ages and ages hence:
   Because it was grassy and wanted wear;                      Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
   Though as for that the passing there                        I took the one less traveled by,
   Had worn them really about the same,                        And that has made all the difference.


                                 Robert Frost, ‘The road not taken’




Welcome to Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads (LTC), a new journal dedicated to the
crossroads where linguistic typology meets its neighboring fields.


A crossroads is not only and necessarily a place where a choice must be made: this is
the point of view of the traveler, wondering which way to go. If we take a bird’s-eye
view and observe the crossroads from above, we see much more than choices. A
Crossroads is the place where different directions, and different travelers, meet or
follow each other. Thanks to the crossroads, it is possible to change and exchange,
and the very concept of ‘step forward’ opens itself to diagonals and curves. The
crossroads is where future is imagined and innovation occurs, thanks to the reciprocal
influence of intersecting perspectives.
   Crossroads means meeting, exchanging, converging, choosing, diverging,
changing, and possibly making the difference.




https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13473                                                           1
Mauri, Grandi, Di Garbo, Sansò                            Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads


   This journal aims to take the point of view of the crossroads, capturing the moment
when linguistic typology intersects other fields, changing and exchanging methods,
theories and data, in the belief that a closer look at the crossroads may reveal
converging paths and new directions to go.
   Aiming to find, describe and explain linguistic diversity, linguistic typology
naturally crosses the study of the emergence and evolution of the world’s grammars
(Bybee 2015) and the observation of language-internal variation (Croft 2000, 2007).
Likewise, explanations for language universals and cross-linguistic tendencies are
typically found in discourse use, paths of language change and/or cognitive
mechanisms (Keller 1994, Hawkins 2004 and 2014, Haspelmath 2021, among others).
This means that the methodological and theoretical tools of linguistic typology are by
definition at least partially shared with neighboring fields, in a dynamic intersection
that can be itself described as an ever-changing crossroads.
   Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads aims to give space above all, but not
exclusively, to studies exploring the crossroads at which linguistic typology meets
areas   of   linguistics,   such   as   language   documentation,     language       change,
sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language technology, educational
linguistics, corpus-based analysis of speech and discourse.
   Thanks to the advanced infrastructure provided by ABIS-AlmaDL at the University
of Bologna and to the support of the Department of Classical Philology and Italian
Studies (FICLIT) and the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures
(LILEC), the journal meets the highest international standards for scientific
publications. Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads is indeed the first peer-reviewed
journal in the field of linguistic typology that provides immediate and free open access
to all publications, with no embargo and no publication fees (Diamond OA).
   The journal publishes two issues per year. Papers accepted for publication are
selected solely on the basis of scientific quality and scholarly standing, after
undergoing a double-blind peer-review. Members of the Editorial and Scientific
Committee have been invited based on their scientific profile and their expertise in
different areas and approaches to linguistic typology.
   The authors of published articles remain the copyright holders and grant third
parties the right to use, reproduce, and share the article according to the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International license agreement. Authors are welcome to
post pre-submission versions, the original submitted version of the manuscript
(preprint) and the final post-refereeing draft (postprint) on other platforms (personal



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 1-5


website, a collaborative wiki, departmental website, social media websites,
institutional repository or non-commercial subject-based repositories).


---


This first issue is thematic and focuses on comparative constructions across
languages. It gathers selected contributions from the TypoBO Workshop,1 organized
for the Summer 2020 and canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
      Comparative constructions are a set of grammatical strategies that the languages
of the world use to compare two or more items in order to highlight both differences
and similarities among them (cf. Dixon 2008, Stolz 2013, Treis 2018). We can
recognize different types of comparative constructions depending on the kind of
relationship existing between the two (or more) items (Fuchs 2014, Treis 2018). The
first relevant distinction to be made is between quantitative comparison and
qualitative comparison (cf. Treis 2018: iii): quantitative comparison can be further
divided into comparison of inequality (superiority, e.g. taller than, tallest, or
inferiority, e.g. less tall than, least tall) or equality (e.g. as tall as), while qualitative
comparison can be further distinguished into similarity (e.g. like a horse) and
simulation (e.g. as if he were a horse).
      In this issue, the contributions by Ivani and Gaeta take into account comparative
constructions of inequality, in Tibeto-Burman languages and across German
minorities of Italy, respectively. The comparison of inferiority is instead studied by
Modina, both from a cross-linguistic point of view and with a focus on Russian, and
by Audring & Leufkens & van Lier, who provide a comprehensive typology of verbal
diminutives. Equality and similarity relations are the object of Irsara’s paper, who
examines Ladin data in a comparative perspective with Italian and English, while
simulation (or hypothetical manner) is investigated in a typological language-sample
by Martínez.
      The languages of the world exhibit several different formal strategies to express
these functions (e.g. Ultan 1972, Andersen 1983, Stassen 1985, Cuzzolin & Lehmann
2004, Dixon 2008, Stolz 2013, Treis & Vanhove 2017, Treis 2018). However, we can
generally identify some elements that are cross-linguistically recurrent within a
comparative construction (cf. Stolz 2013: 9 and Treis 2018: ii). The comparee and the

1
    Organizers: Alessandra Barotto, Nicola Grandi, Simone Mattiola, Caterina Mauri.
https://eventi.unibo.it/typobo-2020


https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13473                                                3
Mauri, Grandi, Di Garbo, Sansò                             Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads


standard are the items being compared to each other, respectively, the primum
comparationis (comparee) and the secundum comparationis (standard). The parameter
or quality is the property on which comparee and standard are compared (tertium
comparationis). The degree (or parameter) marker explicates the kind of relationship
that comparee and standard have with respect to the parameter/quality (e.g. more,
less, as … as in English). Finally, the tie or standard marker is the grammatical
function or relation that connects comparee, standard, and quality (e.g. than in
English).
   Standard markers of comparison seem to develop out of a restricted set of recurrent
sources (cf. Heine & Kuteva 2002), such as verbal forms meaning ‘exceed/
defeat/surpass’ (Cantonese kwo ‘surpass’ > kwo ‘than’) and interrogative adverbs
(Hungarian mint ‘how’ > mint ‘than’). In this issue, the paper by Jäger traces the
diachronic development of comparison constructions crosslinguistically, highlighting
a recurrent pattern of change with respect to standard markers, i.e. what she calls the
comparative cycle. A diachronic perspective is also adopted by Kobozeva &
Serdobolskaya, who follow the evolution of Russian standard markers kako and aky.
   Papers in this first issue combine studies based on typological samples (cf. papers
by Audring & Leufkens & van Lier, Martínez, and Jäger) with studies focusing on
particular linguistic areas or families (cf. Gaeta on German minorities in Italy, Ivani
on Tibeto-Burman, Irsara on Ladin, Modina and Kobozeva & Serdobolskaya on
Russian), integrating the analysis of descriptive grammars with the analysis of corpus
data, to actually understand the discourse use of comparatives (cf. Modina on Russian,
Irsara on Ladin). The typological approach thus fruitfully stands at the intersection
with a sociolinguistic and areal perspective (especially in Ivani’s, Irsara’s and Gaeta’s
contributions), with diachronic methodology (cf. papers by Jäger, Kobozeva &
Serdobolskaya, and Gaeta) and with corpus-based research (cf. contributions by
Modina, Irsara, Kobozeva & Serdobolskaya).


Linguistic typology is at the crossroads. See you there!



References


Andersen, Paul Kent. 1983. Word order typology and comparative constructions.
   Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 1-5


Bybee, Joan L. 2015. Language change. Cambridge / New York: Cambridge University
   Press.
Croft, William. 2000. Explaining language change: an evolutionary approach. Harlow:
   Pearson education.
Croft, William. 2007. The origins of grammar in the verbalization of experience.
   Cognitive Linguistics 18(3). 339-382.
Cuzzolin, Pierluigi & Lehmann, Christian. 2004. Comparison and gradation. In Geert
   Booij & Christian Lehmann & Joachim Mugdan & Stavros Skopeteas (eds.),
   Morphologie. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung 17.2, 1857–
   1882. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Dixon, R.M.W. 2008. Comparative constructions: A cross-linguistic typology. Studies
   in Language 32(4). 787–817.
Fuchs, Catherine. 2014. La comparaison et son expression en français. Paris: Ophrys.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2021. Explaining grammatical coding asymmetries: Form–
   frequency correspondences and predictability. Journal of Linguistics 57(3). 605-
   633.
Hawkins, John A. 2004. Efficiency and complexity in grammars. Oxford: Oxford
   University Press.
Hawkins, John A. 2014. Cross-linguistic variation and efficiency. New York: Oxford
   University Press.
Heine, Bernd & Kuteva, Tania. 2002. World lexicon of grammaticalization. Cambridge
   / New York: Cambridge University Press.
Keller, Rudi. 1994. On language change: the invisible hand in language. London:
   Routledge.
Stassen, Leon. 1985. Comparison and universal grammar. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Stolz, Thomas 2013. Competing comparative constructions in Europe. Berlin: Akademie-
   Verlag.
Treis, Yvonne 2018. Comparative constructions: an introduction. Linguistic Discovery
   16(1). i–xxvi.
Treis, Yvonne & Vanhove, Martine (eds). 2017. Similative and equative constructions. A
   cross-linguistic perspective. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Ultan, Russell. 1972. Some features of basic comparative constructions. Working
   Papers on Language Universals (Stanford) 9. 117–162.




https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13473                                           5
