The author suggests an evolutionary typology of languages and a way to integrate the concept of linguistic modernization with a theory of language problems. (Author/PM)

Research on which portions of this study are based was performed under a National Science Foundation Grant and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. (VM)

Revised version of a doctoral dissertation (Princeton University), partially subsidized by a grant from the Research Council of the University of North Carolina. (VM)

This paper discusses research and developments in the study of Papuan languages, a designation formerly used to group those languages which were geographically close to, but structurally quite different from, the Austronesian languages; the grouping had nothing to do with relationships among the Papuan languages themselves. Increasing knowledge…

It is possible to observe phonological innovations in Quechua B in purely linguistic terms, abandoning the use of dialects and subdialects. Isolect and lect are used instead. A particular speech form, with respect to a particular innovation, is an isolect in one of three possible ways: it lacks the innovation; it has the innovation as a variable…