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Typological databases can contain a wealth of information beyond the collection of linguistic properties across languages. This papershows how information often overlooked in typological databases can inform the research community about the state of description ofthe world’s languages. We illustrate this using Grambank, a morphosyntactic typological database covering 2,467 language varieties andbased on 3,951 grammatical descriptions. We classify and quantify the comments that accompany coded values in Grambank. We thenaggregate these comments and the coded values to derive a level of description for 17 grammatical domains that Grambank covers(negation, adnominal modification, participant marking, tense, aspect, etc.). We show that the description level of grammatical domainsvaries across space and time. Information about gaps and uncertainties in the descriptive knowledge of grammatical domains within andacross languages is essential for a correct analysis of data in typological databases and for the study of grammatical diversity moregenerally. When collected in a database, such information feeds into disciplines that focus on primary data collection, such asgrammaticography and language documentation.

Grammatical elicitation based on the AdaGram questionnaire developed for the AdaGram project. Topics treated in this recording are logophoric pronouns, standard negation, passive, dative constructions, and locative predication.

Eliciting different sentences to analyze basic negation patterns

Lexical elicitation based on the AdaGram questionnaire developed for the AdaGram project. This recording treats the words from 86 'disease' to 217 'cutlass': from body parts to natural environment to tools and artefacts

This thesis is the first extensive description of Kam (àŋwɔ̀m), a Niger-Congo language spoken in Taraba State, central eastern Nigeria, by an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people. It offers a typologically and areally informed analysis of the grammar and lexicon of Kam, thereby advancing our understanding of the grammatical structure of Niger-Congo languages. This description is based on novel linguistic data collected in the Kam community between 2016 and 2018. There are six parts: (1) introduction, (2) phonological analysis, (3) nominal morphosyntax, (4) verbal morphosyntax, (5) clausal morphosyntax and (6) a sample of text and a lexicon with approx. 1,300 entries. Features of Kam that may be particularly interesting for African and general linguistics include labial-velar stops kp and gb; a difference between prosodically strong and prosodically weak positions in prosodic stems; tonal morphology used for both derivation and inflection; the absence of noun classes or gender; logophoric pronominals; STAMP-morphs; multi-verb constructions; verbal reduplication strategies; clause-final negation and bipartite content interrogatives. The Kam community and their language are part of the linguistically and culturally diverse landscape of north-east and central-east Nigeria. Previous research classified Kam as an isolated language within the Adamawa sub-family of Niger-Congo, whose genealogical unity is no longer widely accepted. Therefore, the classification of Kam and other languages should be reviewed. While classification is not addressed in this thesis, it provides grammatical and lexical data indispensable for any comparison between Kam and other languages and lineages.; Cette thèse fournit la première description détaillée du Kam (àŋwɔ̀m), une langue Niger-Congo parlée à Taraba State, dans le centre-est du Nigéria, par environ 8 000 à 10 000 personnes. La thèse propose une analyse de la grammaire et du lexique du Kam, informée par la typologie et la linguistique aréale, et contribue ainsi à notre compréhension de la structure grammaticale des langues Niger-Congo. Cette description est basée sur des nouvelles données linguistiques récoltées dans la communauté Kam entre 2016 et 2018. Elle se compose de six parties : (1) introduction, (2) analyse phonologique, (3) morphosyntaxe nominale, (4) morphosyntaxe verbale, (5) morphosyntaxe des propositions et (6) un échantillon de texte et un lexique composé de 1300 entrées. Les caractéristiques du Kam qui peuvent être d'un intérêt particulier pour la linguistique africaine et la linguistique générale comprennent les plosives labio-vélaires kp et gb ; une différence prosodique entre les positions fortes et les positions faibles dans les thèmes prosodiques ; la morphologie tonale utilisée pour la dérivation et pour la flexion ; l'absence de classes nominales et du genre grammatical ; des pronoms logophoriques ; les STAMP-morphs (des morphèmes qui expriment simultanément la personne et le nombre grammatical du sujet, le temps, l’aspect et la polarité d’une proposition); les constructions multi-verbes ; des stratégies de réduplication verbale; la négation de la proposition finale ; et les interrogatives de contenu bipartite. Les Kam et leur langue font partie du paysage linguistique et culturel diversifié du nord-est et du centre-est du Nigéria. A ce jour, on classifie le Kam comme une langue isolée dans la sous-famille Adamawa du Niger-Congo. Cependant, comme l'unité généalogique des langues Adamawa n'est plus largement acceptée aujourd’hui, la classification du Kam et des autres langues devrait être révisée. Bien que cette thèse ne traite pas la classification de Kam, elle fournit les données grammaticales et lexicales indispensables pour toute comparaison entre le Kam et d'autres langues et familles de langues.

This thesis is the first extensive description of Kam (àŋwɔ̀m), a Niger-Congo language spoken in Taraba State, central eastern Nigeria, by an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people. It offers a typologically and areally informed analysis of the grammar and lexicon of Kam, thereby advancing our understanding of the grammatical structure of Niger-Congo languages. This description is based on novel linguistic data collected in the Kam community between 2016 and 2018. There are six parts: (1) introduction, (2) phonological analysis, (3) nominal morphosyntax, (4) verbal morphosyntax, (5) clausal morphosyntax and (6) a sample of text and a lexicon with approx. 1,300 entries. Features of Kam that may be particularly interesting for African and general linguistics include labial-velar stops kp and gb; a difference between prosodically strong and prosodically weak positions in prosodic stems; tonal morphology used for both derivation and inflection; the absence of noun classes or gender; logophoric pronominals; STAMP-morphs; multi-verb constructions; verbal reduplication strategies; clause-final negation and bipartite content interrogatives. The Kam community and their language are part of the linguistically and culturally diverse landscape of north-east and central-east Nigeria. Previous research classified Kam as an isolated language within the Adamawa sub-family of Niger-Congo, whose genealogical unity is no longer widely accepted. Therefore, the classification of Kam and other languages should be reviewed. While classification is not addressed in this thesis, it provides grammatical and lexical data indispensable for any comparison between Kam and other languages and lineages.; Cette thèse fournit la première description détaillée du Kam (àŋwɔ̀m), une langue Niger-Congo parlée à Taraba State, dans le centre-est du Nigéria, par environ 8 000 à 10 000 personnes. La thèse propose une analyse de la grammaire et du lexique du Kam, informée par la typologie et la linguistique aréale, et contribue ainsi à notre compréhension de la structure grammaticale des langues Niger-Congo. Cette description est basée sur des nouvelles données linguistiques récoltées dans la communauté Kam entre 2016 et 2018. Elle se compose de six parties : (1) introduction, (2) analyse phonologique, (3) morphosyntaxe nominale, (4) morphosyntaxe verbale, (5) morphosyntaxe des propositions et (6) un échantillon de texte et un lexique composé de 1300 entrées. Les caractéristiques du Kam qui peuvent être d'un intérêt particulier pour la linguistique africaine et la linguistique générale comprennent les plosives labio-vélaires kp et gb ; une différence prosodique entre les positions fortes et les positions faibles dans les thèmes prosodiques ; la morphologie tonale utilisée pour la dérivation et pour la flexion ; l'absence de classes nominales et du genre grammatical ; des pronoms logophoriques ; les STAMP-morphs (des morphèmes qui expriment simultanément la personne et le nombre grammatical du sujet, le temps, l’aspect et la polarité d’une proposition); les constructions multi-verbes ; des stratégies de réduplication verbale; la négation de la proposition finale ; et les interrogatives de contenu bipartite. Les Kam et leur langue font partie du paysage linguistique et culturel diversifié du nord-est et du centre-est du Nigéria. A ce jour, on classifie le Kam comme une langue isolée dans la sous-famille Adamawa du Niger-Congo. Cependant, comme l'unité généalogique des langues Adamawa n'est plus largement acceptée aujourd’hui, la classification du Kam et des autres langues devrait être révisée. Bien que cette thèse ne traite pas la classification de Kam, elle fournit les données grammaticales et lexicales indispensables pour toute comparaison entre le Kam et d'autres langues et familles de langues.

The political king of Kam describes how a hunter-farmer and a fisherman have a quarrel. The fisherman claims that the hunter tried to steal his fish, and he followed the hunter home to take revenge. The hunter, when confronted, admitted that he was near the fish but that he was merely chasing his dog away from the fish. They fought and the village head brought the issue to the king, who finishes by saying that he wants peace in the land.

A woman tells a story about a man who likes to dress as a woman. The chief in the story is attracted to this man, and not knowing that he is actually a woman, pays his/her dowry. When the hare tells him that his bride to be is actually a man, the chief organizes a festival where everyone takes their clothes off. In the meantime, a female frog agrees to exchange her sex with that of the cross-dressing man. On the festival, the man appears to have a vagina. The frog, however, turns out to have been pregnant, and dies since she cannot give birth.

A description of how traditional marriage and weddings happened.

A song recorded during a visit to Garin Hamza. The song tells about the breaking of the Kamajim mountain, how Kamajim 3, previously a sacred location for the Kam, has become accessible to anyone who wants to go there. Even cars/bikes can reach there now.

This datasheet is intended to share some data on logophoric pronouns and reported speech in Kam [ISO 639-3: kdx; Glottocode: kamm1249], a hitherto difficult to classify Niger-Congo language spoken in Central-Eastern Nigeria (see Lesage 2018a,b, 2019a,b,c, in preparation for more on the language). The analysis of reported speech constructions in Kam is currently inconclusive. There might be a quotative marker that has a different form in different varieties of Kam, but its exact function as a quotative marker remains to be checked. Additionally, there is certainly a logophoric pronoun for non-subject functions (such as possessor and patient roles), but it is as yet unclear whether there is a logophoric pronoun for subject function. A publication is planned that will detail a more complete analysis of logophoricity in Kam and address its implications for theories of logophoric pronouns and reported speech in general. I would like to thank Tatiana Nikitina for providing valuable feedback on my current analysis of reported speech in Kam and for asking the right questions to move forward.

This study investigates nominal compounds and related N-N combinations in a sample of twenty-four Pama-Nyungan languages (Australia) from a typological perspective. A survey of typological literature on compounding (section 2) shows that it is difficult to formulate a precise definition of ‘compound’ that can be applied to a wide range of languages. It is possible, however, to set up some parameters for each individual language that allow a category of ‘compounds’ to be distinguished from phrasal combinations of lexemes. Phonologically, compounds may exhibit boundary phenomena, linking morphemes, and/or specialized stress patterns. Morphosyntactically, their elements resist separation by other morphemes and compounds may carry compound-specific cranberry morphs. Semantically, compounds function as names: they are prone to lexicalization, they have a tendency to become idiomatic and they have a non-referential dependent (non-head) element. In section 4, a concept ‘complex nominal head’ is set up, which allows for a study of nominal compounds in the context of other ‘non-phrasal’ N-N combinations in the sample (which is described in section 3). Section 5 provides an overview – based on the parameters introduced in section 2 – of the phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic properties characterizing these constructions. Finally, section 6 of this study gives an idea of how different languages in the sample can distinguish between different types of ‘complex nominal heads’, and where compounds fit in., This thesis contains datasheets.

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 2,400 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. Genealogy versus geography Constraints on grammar Unusual languages Language loss Conclusion