A state-of-the-art view of present-day linguistic typology, focussing on universal tendencies across the world's languages and variation within individual categories.

Acknowledgements; Contributors; Abbreviations; List of figures; List of tables; Introduction. Linguistic typology: setting the scene Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon; Part I. Domains of Linguistic Typology: 1. Phonological typology Harry van der Hulst; 2. Morphological typology Thomas E. Payne; 3. Typology and historical linguistics Silvia Luraghi; 4. Sociolinguistic typology Peter Trudgill; 5. Typology and grammaticalization Heiko Narrog; 6. Sign language typology Ulrike Zeshan and Nick Palfreyman; 7. Typology of mixed languages Peter Bakker; 8. Typology of Creole languages Aymeric Daval-Markussen and Peter Bakker; 9. Typology of secret languages and linguistic taboos Anne Storch; Part II. Typology of Grammatical Categories: 10. A typology of morphological processes: form and function David Beck; 11. A typology of noun categorization devices Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald; 12. Negation Matti Miestamo; 13. Number Edith Moravcsik; 14. A typology of frustrative marking in Amazonian languages Simon E. Overall; 15. Logophoricity Felix Ameka; 16. Switch reference John Roberts; 17. Approaches to motion event typology Eric Pederson; Part III. Typological Profiles of Linguistic Areas and Language Families: 18. Language in the mainland Southeast Asia area N. J. Enfield; 19. The Australian linguistic area R. M. W. Dixon; 20. An overview of Aymaran and Quechuan language structures Willem Adelaar; 21. The Eskimo-Aleut language family Michael Fortescue; 22. The Athabaskan (Dene) language family Keren Rice and Willem de Reuse; 23. The Iroquoian language family Marianne Mithun; 24. The Kampa subgroup of the Arawak language family Elena Mihas; 25. The Omotic language family Azeb Amha; 26. The Semitic language family Aaron D. Rubin; 27. The Dravidian language family Sanford Steever; 28. The Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family Valérie Guérin; 29. The Greater Awyu-Ndumut language family of West Papua Lourens de Vries; Index of authors; Index of languages, language families and linguistic areas; Index of subjects.