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Linguistic typology has recently started paying more and more attention to language use as an explanatory factor. In this approach, naturally occurring discourse data is used to account for the attested cross-linguistic patterns. This article offers a theoretical and methodological discussion of the usage-based approach taking the typology of negation as a case study. Negation is a particularly suitable domain for this kind of discussion, since (a) it is universally present in the world’s languages and relatively frequent in discourse, (b) it is well-studied from a typological point of view, and (c) due to its unique pragmatic status, it shows a variety of discourse effects that can be possibly linked to cross-linguistic generalizations. We pay specific attention to negation in non-main clauses, a previously understudied combination that can be expected to provide valuable insights due to some important similarities between the two domains., Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads, Vol. 2 No. 1 (2022)