Contents -- Preface -- List of contributors -- List of abbreviations -- 1 INTRODUCTION -- 1 Types of similarity -- 2 Family trees -- 3 Punctuated equilibrium -- 4 Linguistic areas and areal diffusion -- 5 Overview of the volume -- 6 Prospects -- References -- 2 ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE HISTORICAL DETERMINANTS OF PUNCTUATION IN LANGUAGE-FAMILY ORIGINS -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The archaeological record of early agriculture-some key points -- 3 A biological comment -- 4 Conclusions -- References -- 3 AN INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTIC AREA AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS: ANCIENT ANATOLIA. AREAL DIFFUSION AS A CHALLENGE TO THE COMPARATIVE METHOD? -- References -- 4 THE AUSTRALIAN LINGUISTIC AREA -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Characteristic features -- 3 Two parameters of variation and cyclic change -- 4 Low-level subgroups and small linguistic areas -- 5 Conclusions -- Appendix-The 'Pama-Nyungan' idea -- Summary list of languages (including likely low-level genetic subgroups) -- References -- 5 DESCENT AND DIFFUSION: THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PILBARA SITUATION -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Phonological innovations -- 3 Morphophonemic alternations -- 4 Case-marking patterns -- 5 Conclusion -- References -- 6 CONTACT-INDUCED CHANGE IN OCEANIC LANGUAGES IN NORTH-WEST MELANESIA -- 1 Background -- 2 Equilibrium under the microscope -- References -- 7 AREAL DIFFUSION, GENETIC INHERITANCE, AND PROBLEMS OF SUBGROUPING: A NORTH ARAWAK CASE STUDY -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Arawak family -- 3 Arawak languages north of the Amazon: grammatical and lexical comparisons -- 4 Case studies in restructuring north of the Amazon -- 5 Final remarks -- References -- 8 LINGUISTIC DIFFUSION IN PRESENT-DAY EAST ANATOLIA: FROM TOP TO BOTTOM -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The languages and the area -- 3 Pan-Anatolian structural parallels.

4 Turkish-Laz contact and Turkish-Iranian contact: the issue of structural compatibility -- 5 Conclusions: patterns of borrowing and borrowing of patterns -- References -- 9 THE ROLE OF MIGRATION AND LANGUAGE CONTACT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SINO-TIBETAN LANGUAGE FAMILY -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The migrations and their effects -- 3 Metatypy -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- 10 ON GENETIC AND AREAL LINGUISTICS IN MAINLAND SOUTH-EAST ASIA: PARALLEL POLYFUNCTIONALITY OF 'ACQUIRE' -- 1 Introductory discussion: the Mainland South-East Asian area -- 2 Case study: polyfunctionality of ACQUIRE in Mainland South-East Asia -- 3 Discussion -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- 11 GENETIC VERSUS CONTACT RELATIONSHIP: PROSODIC DIFFUSIBILITY IN SOUTH-EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES -- 1 Theoretical issues in establishing genetic relationship -- 2 Recognized language families of South-East Asia -- 3 Areal features in South-East Asia -- 4 Syllable structure and tone -- 5 Typology of Tibeto-Burman tone systems -- 6 Mono- versus polygenesis of tone in Sino-Tibetan and Tibeto-Burman -- 7 Tonogenetic parallels in South-East Asian languages: the Sinospheric Tonbund -- 8 Theoretical implications and desiderata for the future -- References -- 12 LANGUAGE CONTACT AND AREAL DIFFUSION IN SINITIC LANGUAGES -- 1 The comparative method and reconstruction of Sinitic -- 2 Typological features of Sinitic -- 3 Language contact: stratification, hybridization, and convergence -- 4 Shared grammaticalization pathways in Sinitic, areal diffusion, and language universals -- 5 Conclusion -- References -- 13 AREAL DIFFUSION VERSUS GENETIC INHERITANCE: AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Two cases of areal diffusion -- 3 Diffusion versus genetic inheritance in Niger-Congo -- 4 Some answers and some further questions -- Appendix-The subclassification of Nilo-Saharan according to Greenberg (1963).

References -- 14 CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Language contact -- 3 Grammaticalizing metatypy -- 4 Conclusions -- References -- 15 WHAT LANGUAGE FEATURES CAN BE 'BORROWED'? -- 1 Introduction -- 2 'Borrowing' -- 3 Scales of adoptability, hierarchies, and constraints -- 4 Impediments to the development of constraints on borrowing -- 5 What language units are borrowed? A summary -- 6 Conclusions -- References -- Index of authors -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z -- Index of languages and language families -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z -- Subject index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.