 Bernard Comrie
Director
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
Tel.: +49 (341) 3550 - 315
Fax: +49 (341) 3550 - 333
 Email: comrie eva.mpg.de
Personal Homepage:
http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/staff/comrie
Research interests
- Language universals and typology
- Linguistic fieldwork and language documentation
- Language evolution and language history, including interdisciplinary cooperation with genetics and archeology
- Languages of the Caucasus
Research Projects:
The World Atlas of Language Structures - WALS
In 2005, the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) was published as a book and CD-ROM. Based on a core sample of 200 languages, WALS documents the geographical distribution of approximately 120 structural features in the world’s languages. WALS for the first time permits the rapid assessment of the areal spread of a wide range of linguistic features. [more]
Intercontinental Dictionary Series (IDS)
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (IDS), a long-term cooperative project, involves linguists all over the world, and aims at preserving information on little-known languages. To this end, a database will be established, where lexical material across the continents is organized in such a way that comparisons can be made. Historical studies, comparative, and theoretical linguistic research can then be based on this documentation. [more]
Ditransitive constructions in the world's languages
In this project, we are studying the grammatical properties of ditransitive constructions (i.e. constructions with an agent, a recipient, and a theme argument) in a broadly comparative perspective. We are compiling a database with relevant information on about 200 languages, and we plan to publish this database as well as a monograph that presents the results of our inquiries. [more]
Animacy and mythology in Hantxa Kuin (Cashinahua)
Cashinahua – or Hantxa Kuin as it is called by its speakers – belongs to the Panoan family. All Panoan languages are concentrated in one geographic region, the Amazonian lowlands in Eastern Peru and in adjacent parts of Brazil and Bolivia. The project aims at building up a comprehensive documentation of the Cashinahua language and culture at its current stage in Peru and in Brazil. [more]
|
