Beitraege Zur Typologischen Sprachgeographie Essays to a Geographic Typology of Languages : Herausgegeben von Brigit BeneS, Uta Fromherz und Fredy Gröbli- Edited by Brigit BeneS, Uta Fromherz and Fred

Typological Linguistics, a discipline that goes back to Wilhelm von Humboldt, compares the structures of languages that are not related in their genealogy. It attempts to discover the underlying structure upon which grammatical elements are based. Heinrich Wagner (1923-1988) investigated a number of typological categories that occur in a multitude of languages throughout the entire world. He was able to show that a number of similar methods of expression occur in geographic areas that span, for example, from the British Isles through Western Europe and Africa, the northern parts of Europe and Asia, and from Asia Minor to the Caucasus. He was guided by the conviction that languages are actually historically evolved cultural organisms; thus, the history of language can only be seen in connection with the history of the peoples of the world. A selection of Wagner's essays, which were initially printed in a number of different publications and thus never found the attention which they deserve, have been collected here.