This paper explores tail-head linkage constructions in a convenience sample of 58 languages. Special attention is paid to recapitulative constructions in which reported speech clauses are omitted and only the quotative verb is recapitulated and summary constructions composed of a light verb accompanied by a deictic and dependency marker. These strategies are more frequent in East Tucanoan languages in the sample. Interestingly, neighboring languages not genetically related to East Tucanoan have both strategies. It is proposed that the most obvious explanation seems to be language contact. This is because: (1) the languages are spoken in the same region, (2) they are not genetically related, and (3) the probability of chance resemblance is low given the rarity of the strategies.

This investigation offers an analysis of crosslinguistic variation in the expression of clausal negative concomitance (e.g. ‘he slept without using a pillow’) in a sample of 65 languages, showing that most languages in the sample tend to use conjunctions and converbs for indicating clausal negative concomitance. The discussion of clause-linkage patterns reveals that most languages have monofunctional devices for signaling clausal negative concomitance. Intriguingly, even when languages employ a clause-linking device for conveying clausal negative concomitance, negative markers may play an important role in that they may be obligatory, optional, or disallowed in the ‘without V-ing’ clause. It is proposed that whether the clause-linking device is semantically monofunctional or polyfunctional is the key to this puzzle. The paper also shows that most languages in the sample tend to signal clausal negative concomitance and nominal negative concomitance (e.g. ‘you took a basket without holes’) in the same way. This indicates a diachronic connection between these constructions.

This investigation offers an analysis of the variation in the expression of purpose relations in a sample of 49 Amazonian languages. The most common strategies are conjunctions and converbs. Interestingly, in a number of Amazonian languages, positive purpose meanings are expressed with a conjunction or a converb in combination with other morphosyntactic properties. We briefly examine the areality of positive purpose clause-linkage patterns in four contact zones in the Amazonia: the Vaupés region, the Caquetá-Putumayo region, the Southern Guiana region, and the Marañon-Huallaga region. Besides analyzing the range of ways by which positive purpose clauses are realized in the sample, we also investigate avertive clauses in a number of languages of the database. Amazonian languages show an interesting typological picture in that they tend to have avertive markers which may be intraclausal or relational.

It is now clear that languages not-genetically related can come to share syntactic structures that were not necessarily borrowed directly in their modern forms. Although it can be challenging to spot these structures, striking similarities in certain patterns and in fine details of usage may shed light on this process. Not only may spotting the patterns be a difficult task, but also establishing the source of diffusion of a trait (i.e., who passed it to whom). These points are illustrated here with constructions termed ‘adverbial clauses’. Examples are drawn from Mixtec languages. The analysis focuses on six types of adverbial clauses. In particular, it is explained how several Mixtec adverbial clause-linking strategies may have spread to Huasteca Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan) and vice versa.

The consecutive construction was once thought to be unique to African languages. Subsequent work has demonstrated its existence in languages spoken in different parts of the world (e.g., Australia and Oceania). Intriguingly, it often occurs in areal clusters. Its areality is a puzzle, because such constructions are deeply embedded in grammars (i.e., marked with affixes, clitics, or conjunctions), and the forms of the markers themselves are not shared across language boundaries. Here it is shown that Veracruz is another zone where this clause-linkage pattern is attested. Examination of a set of unrelated languages indigenous to Veracruz: Huasteca Nahuatl, Papantla Totonac, San Gabriel Huastec, and Uxpanapa Chinantec, sheds some light on how such areal patterns might come about. Based on a number of intra-genetic variance analyses, systematically informed by what is known from social/cultural history, it is proposed that Huasteca Nahuatl served as the source. The consecutive pattern in Huasteca Nahuatl has different functions. It is used for indicating temporal subsequence, motion-cum-purpose, tail-head linkage, afterthoughts, and commands. Some neighboring languages have copied some of these functions, and developed others.