Lingvisticæ Investigationes - Volume 48, Issue 2, 2025

In this contribution, I address the syntax of similative clauses in Germanic. Drawing mostly from English and German, I show that similative clauses pattern with prepositional relative clauses and hence are to be analysed as such. Specifically, I propose that the so-called parameter in similatives corresponds to the head complex of the relative clause that originates within the subordinate clause to then raise to the edge of it in line with the head-raising approach to relative clauses as originally proposed by Kayne (1994). The underlying syntactic structure I argue for in this contribution, as well as the derivation proposed for similative clauses is not specific to English and German, but should also hold for other Germanic varieties.

This is a study of English (just) as well (as) and as good (as) constructions and their counterparts in Dutch and German. These constructions can express an equative meaning, which is the oldest meaning, as well as ‘extended’ meanings, like coordination, with as well as functioning like the coordinator and, or approximation, with as good as. The study is based on the Sketchengine TenTen corpora for each of the three languages. The findings are evaluated relative to the influential ‘Germanic Sandwich’ hypothesis that Dutch is intermediate between English and German. It is argued that, in most respects, Dutch and German pattern alike, and that, from a diachronic perspective, each language has shown innovation.

Equative and similative constructions have never been investigated in the Germanic varieties spoken in small linguistic islands of the northwestern Italian Alps. They are particularly interesting because of the extended contact situation in which these communities are immersed, regularly using up to four different languages in their repertoire. In the paper, the focus will be on the two Walser German varieties spoken in Gressoney and Issime. The equative and similar constructions reflect the state of affairs observed in Swiss German, although small differences do appear between the two varieties, which stem in part from peculiar developments and reflect the different relationship with French as a contact language.

This paper presents a case study of similatives in Enggano, an Austronesian language spoken in Sumatra, Indonesia. It compares and contrasts the expression of similarity in Old Enggano versus Contemporary Enggano using legacy materials collected in 1930s, and a modern corpus collected since 2018 as part of an ongoing language documentation project. It demonstrates that the Old Enggano verb doo ‘be.similar’ has undergone a number of changes in Contemporary Enggano that are consistent with a process of grammaticalization and argues that this process is facilitated by contact with Indonesian, which provides a template for many of the semantic extensions through its comparison marker seperti. Ultimately, this supports the view that both language internal and language external factors may play a role in the development of similatives.

In this paper, we explore whether taxonomic and approximative categorizations can be systematically linked to specific syntactic constructions, following the common assumption that interpretative types correspond to formal structures. To address this question, we examine the roles of two markers — genre and style — in French, focusing particularly on their bare (prepositional) uses. We demonstrate that similarity processes play a crucial role in shaping categorization patterns in everyday discourse.

In this contribution, we investigate two specific constructions with the lexical item ‘style’ that have developed similative uses. By looking at Russian v stile ‘in the style of’ and Italian (in) stile ‘(in) style’, we claim that the similarity mechanism that underlies these style-noun constructions does not depend on taxonomic relationships (as for type nouns) but rather relies on the context and knowledge shared by the interlocutors. In these constructions, the right-hand slot evokes a reference frame in which the left-hand element is inserted through similarity. Relying on corpus data, we analyze and compare the two constructions in terms of the mechanisms exploited to express similarity, the kind of similarity encoded, the grammaticalization pathway undergone by each construction, and the variety of functions they can perform. In addition, a comparative, contrastive analysis between the two languages allows to identify other functionally equivalent constructions that demonstrate the existence of a category of style-noun constructions.

This paper examines the similative uses of the French esprit and the Russian dukh within the constructivist framework of the Culiolian school. Building on their etymology, morphological bases, and authentic corpus uses, we identify the parameters that constitute their core semantics and the principles of their variation. In similative constructions, esprit appears as an autonomous, initially unanchored force (F) that acquires qualitative determination (esprit de N). Rather than remaining fixed, F expands and disperses, animating each subject it encounters and directing their activity. The similative value arises when an occurrence (X) is recognized as the result of this oriented activity, insofar as X reveals properties identifiable with those of F. While both esprit and dukh share this semantic potential, their uses diverge: esprit tends toward stable anchoring in human subjects, whereas dukh retains autonomy, which accounts for its broader similative range in Russian.

This paper compares Czech and Polish prepositional phrases formed with non-taxonomic abstract nouns such as styl ‘style’ or duch ‘spirit’. It analyzes their syntactic functions, surrounding contexts (especially co-occurrence with indefinite pronouns), and semantic-pragmatic extensions, including similarity, exemplification, and quotative uses. While Polish shows broad grammaticalization (of variable advancement) of both taxonomic and non-taxonomic nouns into similative, exemplifying and quotative constructions, Czech limits such developments to a small set of manner-based nouns, which brings further evidence that the semantic domain of ‘manner’ is a productive source for the emergence of similative and quotative constructions, even in the absence of analogical models based on taxonomic nouns in Czech. The findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how similarity and related meanings are grammatically expressed in Slavic languages.

The present study proposes a typology of relatively new similatives in Serbian, derived from nouns and forming part of a nominal phrase in an [NP1 SIM NP2] construction (where SIM stands for ‘similative’). In Serbian, there are two semantic source domains for similatives at issue: taxonomic nouns and manner nouns. The study analyzes six similative markers: tipa ‘of the type’, u stilu ‘in the style’, fazon ‘manner’, u fazonu ‘in the manner’, na fazon ‘on the trick’, and na foru ‘on the trick’. These markers are derived from one taxonomic noun (tip) and three manner nouns (fazon, fora, and stil). The study explores their syntactic diversity — ranging from prepositions to particles — and their numerous semantic and pragmatic values, such as similarity, exemplification, approximation, clarification, and ad hoc characterization. Findings suggest that while Serbian follows general evolutionary trends observed in other European languages, it also displays unique features, particularly in the prominence of manner nouns as sources for similatives.