This paper provides a description of the four verbal suffixes in the Northwest Caucasian languages (-χ’a in Abaza, -χ’a in Abkhaz, -хе in Adyghe, and -č̣’e in Kabardian) that have functions of such categories as the perfect, iamitive, and ‘already’. The difference between these categories has been debated in the recent literature, and the Northwest Caucasian languages represent an ideal case for a detailed investigation of the fine-grained distinctions between markers that occupy different places in the perfect-iamitive-‘already’ semantic space while remaining within a group of languages with a similar typological profile. Furthermore, this study contributes to earlier discussions by focusing on a hitherto less explored affixal type of iamitive(-like) marker. Using diagnostics partly borrowed from previous studies, we analyze the aforementioned suffixes on the basis of elicited and corpus data. The results show that -χ’a in Abkhaz is closest to the perfect, -хе in Adyghe and -č̣’e in Kabardian are close to ‘already’, while -χ’a in Abaza fits quite well into the iamitive category. We also pay special attention to the interaction of these markers with available TAM forms. It turns out that in most languages these markers are restricted to past perfective forms of dynamic verbs.

This paper analyses the morphosyntactic variation in locative (loc) and locational-existential (loc-ex) clauses in Gawarbati, an underdescribed Indo-Aryan languagewhich has no dedicated formal marking of the loc vs. loc-ex contrast. The analysis also compares figure-ground predications in geographically adjacent languages.The results show that there are three morphosyntactic parameters which reflect,to varying degrees, the loc vs. loc-ex status of the predication: word order, indefiniteness marking and the lexical identity of the predicate. The parameter reflectingthe loc vs. loc-ex alternation most consistently is word order. However, as shownin the corpus study of Gawarbati, what is primarily encoded by word order variation is a range of available information-structural patterns, and they do not alwayseasily match with the loc vs. loc-ex distinction.

Vissa saker är obestridligen sanna. Ändå talas det ofta om min eller din sanning som om det sanna också var personligt. Men i språket verkar det som att vi tar sanningen som det normala och lögnen som det avvikande.

This chapter outlines the evolution of continuative (still) expressions and ultimately highlights a hitherto less discussed cyclical process, the Continuative Cycle (CC). Three genealogical groupings of different size and time depth (Germanic, Slavic, and Austronesian) provide the data for this work. Two pathways of the CC occur commonly: CC via replacement whereby the erstwhile still expression is superseded by a new one and CC via reinforcement, reminiscent of doubling à la the Jespersen Cycle in that an old still expression no longer encodes this sense on its own, but rather has to be used together with another word. In addition, renewal of still expressions may occur via specification of a general continuative that was previously underspecified for polarity. The multifunctionality of older still expressions and their interaction with negation bear significantly on their renewal. The recurrence of the CC in many unrelated languages suggests that the continuative is a cognitively stable function.