Francesca Di Garbo
Biographic Data
| ID | 2446603 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Francesca Di Garbo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Francesca |
| FAMILY NAME | Di Garbo |
| SIGNATURE | DI GARBO F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2499-8800 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The evolution of gender and number agreement in the noun phrase
We test the dependency relations between gender and number posited by Greenberg’s Universal 36 by focusing on patterns of gender and number agreement in the noun phrase from an evolutionary perspective. To do so, we use data from Grambank, the largest existing database of morphosyntactic structures in the world’s languages. Based on data from 1,608 languages worldwide, we use a Reverse Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to investigate the order…
Embracing uncertainty, and the multifaceted soul of linguistic typology
Article Embracing uncertainty, and the multifaceted soul of linguistic typology: commentary on “Replication and methodological robustness in quantitative typology” by Becker and Guzmán Naranjo was published on July 25, 2025 in the journal Linguistic Typology (volume 0, issue 0)
Contact effects in nominal number systems
This paper is a comparative study of contact effects in nominal number systems, based on a sample of 49 pairs of languages in contact and focusing on pattern borrowing. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we find that plural marking and number marking on nouns are the features most likely to display similar encodings across languages in contact. We also show that, though less frequent globally, duals are particularly sens…
The design principles of a sociolinguistic typological questionnaire for language contact research
This paper presents the design rationale and pilot demonstration of the GramAdapt Social Contact questionnaire; a research tool developed for collecting global comparative sociolinguistic data on language contact scenarios. The questionnaire is qualitative with quantitative potential, inviting language community experts to provide best-assessment answers to questions about social contact in their communities of expertise. The main purpose is to c…
A typological approach to language change in contact situations
Language contact phenomena have increasingly been researched from different historical linguistic, sociolinguistic and areal-typological perspectives. However, since most of this research is based on case studies, an assessment of contact phenomena from a worldwide comparative perspective has been missing in the literature. In this article, we draw inspiration from historical linguistics and language typology to present a new typological approach…
A sampling technique for worldwide comparisons of language contact scenarios
Existing sampling methods in language typology strive to control for areal biases in typological datasets as a means to avoid contact effects in the distribution of linguistic structure. However, none of these methods provide ways to directly compare contact scenarios from a typological perspective. This paper addresses this gap by introducing a sampling procedure for worldwide comparisons of language contact scenarios. The sampling unit consists…
Serge Sagna, Cross-categorial classification
Nominal classification is a cover term broadly referring to the manifold constructions that human languages may use to organize their nominal lexicon into structured groupings and to the discourse functions that are typically associated with these categorization processes.The nominal classification systems of the languages of the Niger-Congo family are one of the most well-known and best studied systems among those attested in the languages of th…
Sociogeographic correlates of typological variation in northwestern Bantu gender systems
This paper investigates the sociolinguistic factors that impact the typology and evolution of grammatical gender systems in northwestern Bantu, the most diverse area of the Bantu-speaking world. We base our analyses on a typological classification of 179 northwestern Bantu languages, focusing on various instances of semantic agreement and their role in the erosion of gender marking. In addition, we conduct in-depth analyses of the sociolinguistic…
A typology of northwestern Bantu gender systems
Northwestern Bantu is the most linguistically diverse area of the Bantu-speaking world. Several unusual grammatical gender systems are reported for this area, but there has been a lack of comprehensive comparative studies. This article is a typological investigation of northwestern Bantu gender systems based on a sample of 179 languages. We study the distribution of various patterns of animacy-based agreement in the languages of the sample and in…
Plural marking on noun-associated forms
Number systems can be morphosemantic or morphosyntactic, based on whether number marking is restricted to nouns or also extends to noun-associated forms, such as adnominal modifiers, predicates, and pronouns. While it is well-known that asymmetries in the distribution of plural marking on nouns can be due to lexico-semantic properties such as animacy and/or inherent number, the question of whether these properties also affect patterns of plural a…
Exploring Grammatical Complexity Crosslinguistically
This paper proposes a set of principles and methodologies for the crosslinguistic investigation of grammatical complexity and applies them to the in-depth study of one grammatical domain, gender. The complexity of gender is modeled on the basis of crosslinguistically documented properties of gender systems and by taking into consideration interactions between gender and two other grammatical domains: nominal number and evaluative morphology. The …
A typology of northwestern Bantu gender systems
Northwestern Bantu is the most linguistically diverse area of the Bantu-speaking world. Several unusual grammatical gender systems are reported for this area, but there has been a lack of comprehensive comparative studies. This article is a typological investigation of northwestern Bantu gender systems based on a sample of 179 languages. We study the distribution of various patterns of animacy-based agreement in the languages of the sample and in…
Exploring Grammatical Complexity Crosslinguistically
This paper proposes a set of principles and methodologies for the crosslinguistic investigation of grammatical complexity and applies them to the in-depth study of one grammatical domain, gender. The complexity of gender is modeled on the basis of crosslinguistically documented properties of gender systems and by taking into consideration interactions between gender and two other grammatical domains: nominal number and evaluative morphology. The …
Plural marking on noun-associated forms
Number systems can be morphosemantic or morphosyntactic, based on whether number marking is restricted to nouns or also extends to noun-associated forms, such as adnominal modifiers, predicates, and pronouns. While it is well-known that asymmetries in the distribution of plural marking on nouns can be due to lexico-semantic properties such as animacy and/or inherent number, the question of whether these properties also affect patterns of plural a…
Sociogeographic correlates of typological variation in northwestern Bantu gender systems
This paper investigates the sociolinguistic factors that impact the typology and evolution of grammatical gender systems in northwestern Bantu, the most diverse area of the Bantu-speaking world. We base our analyses on a typological classification of 179 northwestern Bantu languages, focusing on various instances of semantic agreement and their role in the erosion of gender marking. In addition, we conduct in-depth analyses of the sociolinguistic…
A typology of northwestern Bantu gender systems
Northwestern Bantu is the most linguistically diverse area of the Bantu-speaking world. Several unusual grammatical gender systems are reported for this area, but there has been a lack of comprehensive comparative studies. This article is a typological investigation of northwestern Bantu gender systems based on a sample of 179 languages. We study the distribution of various patterns of animacy-based agreement in the languages of the sample and in…
A sampling technique for worldwide comparisons of language contact scenarios
Existing sampling methods in language typology strive to control for areal biases in typological datasets as a means to avoid contact effects in the distribution of linguistic structure. However, none of these methods provide ways to directly compare contact scenarios from a typological perspective. This paper addresses this gap by introducing a sampling procedure for worldwide comparisons of language contact scenarios. The sampling unit consists…
Serge Sagna, Cross-categorial classification
Nominal classification is a cover term broadly referring to the manifold constructions that human languages may use to organize their nominal lexicon into structured groupings and to the discourse functions that are typically associated with these categorization processes.The nominal classification systems of the languages of the Niger-Congo family are one of the most well-known and best studied systems among those attested in the languages of th…
A typological approach to language change in contact situations
Language contact phenomena have increasingly been researched from different historical linguistic, sociolinguistic and areal-typological perspectives. However, since most of this research is based on case studies, an assessment of contact phenomena from a worldwide comparative perspective has been missing in the literature. In this article, we draw inspiration from historical linguistics and language typology to present a new typological approach…
Embracing uncertainty, and the multifaceted soul of linguistic typology
Article Embracing uncertainty, and the multifaceted soul of linguistic typology: commentary on “Replication and methodological robustness in quantitative typology” by Becker and Guzmán Naranjo was published on July 25, 2025 in the journal Linguistic Typology (volume 0, issue 0)
Contact effects in nominal number systems
This paper is a comparative study of contact effects in nominal number systems, based on a sample of 49 pairs of languages in contact and focusing on pattern borrowing. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, we find that plural marking and number marking on nouns are the features most likely to display similar encodings across languages in contact. We also show that, though less frequent globally, duals are particularly sens…
The design principles of a sociolinguistic typological questionnaire for language contact research
This paper presents the design rationale and pilot demonstration of the GramAdapt Social Contact questionnaire; a research tool developed for collecting global comparative sociolinguistic data on language contact scenarios. The questionnaire is qualitative with quantitative potential, inviting language community experts to provide best-assessment answers to questions about social contact in their communities of expertise. The main purpose is to c…
The evolution of gender and number agreement in the noun phrase
We test the dependency relations between gender and number posited by Greenberg’s Universal 36 by focusing on patterns of gender and number agreement in the noun phrase from an evolutionary perspective. To do so, we use data from Grambank, the largest existing database of morphosyntactic structures in the world’s languages. Based on data from 1,608 languages worldwide, we use a Reverse Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to investigate the order…
Linguistics (9 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (8 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Language and cultural evolution (6 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Noun (5 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (5 works) · Typology (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works)