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This contribution provides a descriptive account of the phasal polarity domain (encompassing the concepts not yet, already, still, and no longer) in Suansu, using a corpus of naturalistic and semi-spontaneous data. It aims at filling the descriptive gap of this category in Tibeto-Burman and frames the properties of Suansu phasal polarity system within a cross-linguistic framework. Findings reveal that Suansu expresses these concepts through various means, including versatile verbs, discourse markers, aspectual markers, and dedicated forms. Results also show that Suansu phasal polarity domain revolves around an interconnected semantic network based on internal negation, polarity change, and actualization (or existence) at the reference point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution introduces Suansu, an endangered Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Manipur, northeastern India. Suansu is virtually undescribed in the linguistic literature, and no previous attestations are known to date. This field report provides a first sketch of Suansu sociolinguistic profile, phonology and phonotactics, as well as basic information on Suansu nominal and verbal morphology. A preliminary comparative look at the languages spoken in the area suggests that Suansu does not align neatly with the set of traits commonly attested in the region, confirming the high linguistic diversity of the area and setting up the stage for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the possible presence of an east–west divide in Indo-Aryan languages suggested in previous literature (Peterson, John. 2017a. Fitting the pieces together – towards a linguistic prehistory of eastern-central South Asia (and beyond). Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics 4(2). 211–257.), with the further hypothesis that this divide may be linked to the influence of the Munda languages, spoken in the eastern part of the subcontinent. Working with 217 fine-grained variables on a sample of 27 Indo-Aryan and Munda languages, we test the presence of a geographical divide within Indo-Aryan using computational methods such as cluster analysis in combination with visual statistical inference. Our results confirm the presence of a geographical divide for the whole dataset and most of the individual features. We then proceed to compute the degree of similarity between the Indo-Aryan languages and Munda, using a Bayesian alternative to a t-test. The results for most features support the claim that the languages identified in the eastern clusters are indeed more similar to Munda, thereby opening up further research scenarios for the history of this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including South Asian linguistics, language contact, and Indo-Aryan languages

While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical database available. The comprehensiveness of Grambank allows us to quantify the relative effects of genealogical inheritance and geographic proximity on the structural diversity of the world's languages, evaluate constraints on linguistic diversity, and identify the world's most unusual languages. An analysis of the consequences of language loss reveals that the reduction in diversity will be strikingly uneven across the major linguistic regions of the world. Without sustained efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages, our linguistic window into human history, cognition, and culture will be seriously fragmented.