Introduction

While comparative constructions have been extensively studied in the past decades, the expression of equality and similarity has so far attracted little attention in the typological literature.

The fifteen contributions assembled in this volume study similative and equative constructions in typologically and genetically distant languages, albeit with a focus on Africa, and from a range of perspectives.

Purely synchronically oriented case studies are supplemented by contributions that also shed light on the diachronic development of similative and equative constructions in language contact situations.

Sources of similative morphemes and lexically expressed concepts of likeness are examined, and little-known multifunctionality patterns and grammaticalisation targets of similative morphemes - such as purpose clause markers, modality morphemes and markers of glottonyms - are discussed.

Based on a sample of 119 languages worldwide, a new typology of equative constructions is proposed.

The book should be of interest to typologists, semanticists, specialists of grammaticalization, historical linguistics and syntax.