This article provides a synoptic view of research that has been carried out over the centuries on the fifteen languages that are spoken in the Ghana-Togo hills of West Africa with an outlier in... Show moreThis article provides a synoptic view of research that has been carried out over the centuries on the fifteen languages that are spoken in the Ghana-Togo hills of West Africa with an outlier in Benin. It traces the dilemmas and opportunities the languages offer for historical, descriptive and theoretical linguistics. It highlights some of the developments in the recent investigations that have taken place and concludes with an overview of the articles on GTM languages in the issue. Show less
This contribution is a plea to pay more systematicattention to the infrequently studied, fine-grained grammatical phenomenon ofcomplementation in the analysis of political discourse. The way the... Show moreThis contribution is a plea to pay more systematicattention to the infrequently studied, fine-grained grammatical phenomenon ofcomplementation in the analysis of political discourse. The way the Dutchradical populist Geert Wilders uses complementation serves as a case study tothat end. In the first half of the contribution, an in-depth description of thephenomenon of complementation is given; it is argued that the use ofcomplementation affects the degree of certainty by which a speaker presents hisideas. The second half of the contribution reports on a diachronic analysis ofGeert Wilders’ use of complementation in 47 parliamentary speeches held between2004 and 2009. It is argued that Wilders’ use of complementation significantlydecreases between 2004 and 2009. The decrease is not a gradual transition: abreak occurs between 2006 and 2007. This is an indication that Wilders offersless room for discussion from this period onwards. Strikingly, Wilders’ changeduse of complementation coincides with the moment that political scientistsindicate as the moment that Wilders’ political views radicalized. The casestudy not only shows that studying complementation can add to the inventory oflinguistic phenomena relevant to the analysis of political discourse; it alsostresses the significance of combining quantitative and qualitative methods ofanalysis for the quantification of stylistic phenomena. Show less
In this paper, I will discuss the origin of the different nominal accent-ablaut paradigms that can be reconstructed for (late) Proto-Indo-European, and argue that new insights into several... Show moreIn this paper, I will discuss the origin of the different nominal accent-ablaut paradigms that can be reconstructed for (late) Proto-Indo-European, and argue that new insights into several peculiarities of the Hittite nominal case system may have interesting consequences for this topic. In order to do so, it is important that we first have a good understanding of the nature and development of Proto-Indo-European ablaut and its correlation with accent. Show less
The West Slavic glosses in mediaeval Hebrew textsare an important source for the study of the early development of the WestSlavic languages. Although the majority of glosses are often regarded as... Show moreThe West Slavic glosses in mediaeval Hebrew textsare an important source for the study of the early development of the WestSlavic languages. Although the majority of glosses are often regarded as OldCzech, it is argued in this paper that some of these glosses are more likely toreflect a Slavic vernacular that was ancestral to modern Upper Sorbian. Theyform an important addition to the known corpus of mediaeval Sorbian. Some ofthe earliest phonological developments of Czech and Sorbian can be dated on thebasis of the Judeo-Slavic glosses. Show less
This paper provides an overview of the agricultural lexicon of Balto-Slavic and aims to include all words that can be reconstructed for the Baltic and Slavic proto-languages. In our analysis, we... Show moreThis paper provides an overview of the agricultural lexicon of Balto-Slavic and aims to include all words that can be reconstructed for the Baltic and Slavic proto-languages. In our analysis, we distinguish between the words that can be dated to Proto-Balto-Slavic and those that entered Baltic and/or Slavic independently at a later stage. The paper shows that Baltic and Slavic do not share a large agricultural lexicon, which suggests that the speakers of Balto-Slavic did not practice agriculture in a much more extensive way than the Proto-Indo-European pastoral nomads did. The transition from a pastoral to a more agriculture-based society took place after the parting of Baltic and Slavic. Show less
