Direct Borrowing Research Articles

КЕРАМИЧЕСКИЕ ИЗДЕЛИЯ ИЗ СРЕДНЕВЕКОВОГО ГОРОДИЩА ЖАЙЫК(по материалам раскопок 2015 г.)

The presented article is devoted to one of the most common artifacts of archaeological complexes – ceramics. Based on the archaeological analysis of the products, the morphology and technical characteristics of some types are briefly revealed. The research base of the article consists of materials from the archaeological excavation of the Zhaiyk settlement, carried out during the 2015 field season. Ceramic production, as one of the specialized types of craft, has a certain set of special technical means and devices. Generalization of data on technology and, above all, the design of roasting furnaces over a certain, rather long, chronological period within one region makes it possible to trace the evolution of special roasting devices. This, in turn, allows us to make a conclusion about the level of ceramic production technology in a particular period, as well as judge the degree of specialization of the craft at various stages of the development of pottery. In addition, a detailed analysis of the design of the forges makes it possible to identify mutual influences, and often direct borrowings in pottery technology. For the medieval settlements of the North-Eastern Caspian region, this is all the more relevant, since based on the analysis of the earliest structures, it is possible to resolve the issue of the time and ways of the appearance of the region and the direction of its further evolution.

Altaic Elements in the Chinese Variety of Tangwang: True and False Direct Loans

This paper foccusses on the Tangwang language, a Chinese variety spoken in southern Gansu that has been in contact with the Dongxiang language, a Mongolic language. Tangwang is believed to be a highly altaicised variety, as it demonstrate several traits that are usually absent in this language family are are reputed ‘typical’ of the Turkic-Mongolic languages. However, most of these traits are present in the other northwestern chinese varieties and are the result of reanalysis, thus, it is difficult to trace their exact origin. This paper aims at analyzing the influence of Mongolic languages on Tangwang from the perspective of borrowings, and in particular direct loans. Taking the formally identical features that are shared in Dongxiang and Tangwang as a starting point, we will try to determine which form can be seen as a direct borrowing due to the adstratal influence of Dongxiang and which one is probably due to an earlier altaic influence. We will try to classify which form is a ‘true’ direct loan from Dongxiang and which form could be the evidence of an earlier substrate. From the results, and based on the existing models on languages contact, we will try to understand which mechanisms from relexification, grammaticalization, and language shift is the most probable in the case of Tangwang.

Natural and Regulative-Imperative in the Spatial Development of Russia

Organic spatial development is possible under the condition of a reasonable combination of naturalness and regulation of spatially conditioned processes and phenomena. In different periods, the ratio of these principles is different. In Soviet times, spatial development was absolutely dominated by comprehensive directive state planning and management. In the 1990s of post-Soviet reforms, there was a sharp turn towards immoderate and spontaneous decentralization of the spatial organization of life. In the 2000s, counter-reforms began a rapid return to the strengthening of state regulation in this area, which in many respects turned out to be excessive in terms of tasks and costs and unjustified in expectations. The meaning and content, tools and planned results of the current state policy of spatial development are concentrated in the “Strategy of Spatial Development of the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2025”, which claims to be a doctrinal document of modern regional policy. Its development and adoption were accompanied by a multitude of expert comments – from unconditionally apologetic to acutely critical. As the deadline for the end of the strategy approaches, a comprehensive assessment of its effectiveness and effectiveness becomes relevant, especially in connection with the preparation of a new strategy until 2030. The authors see the cornerstone drawback of the current strategy in ignoring the systemic nature of the spatial organization of society, which should be interpreted as an anthropogenic megasystem with its inherent systemic features of integrity, structural organization, direct and reverse connections, with a powerful potential for natural self-organization and selfdevelopment, supplemented in the special transitional conditions of post-Soviet spatial transformations by the regulatory influence on them from the outside State. The authors also emphasize that due to the unprecedented post-Soviet transitional spatial realities, it is impossible to count on diligent study and direct borrowing of foreign experience, due to its inadequacy of the modern Russian situation.

Culture-specific items in the source and target literary texts: Classification of translation strategies

The study deals with the representation of culture-specific items in Jojo Moyes' novels 'Me Before You', and 'After You' and their rendering in Ukrainian translations. The article specifies the role of culture-specific vocabulary as a means that adds necessary socio-cultural details to the setting making the above mentioned novels facts of the English-language (mainly British and American) culture. The research proves that numerous in number are the following groups of culture-specific items: toponyms; types of food, drinks and places to eat; anthroponyms naming famous people, film and fairy tale characters; companies, brands and organisations; mass media. Low in number are items designating education phenomena, persons’ titles and nominations, measurement, dwelling, sports, events, toys, and currency. The research also employs the notions of translation strategy and distinguishes between domesticating and foreignising ones used in order to render culture-specific lexis in a literary translation. Translation techniques of transference (direct borrowing, transcoding, transcoded substitution) and calque are viewed as components of foreignising strategies, whereas generalisation, descriptive periphrasis, cultural equivalent alone or accompanied by a footnote are viewed as implementation of domesticating ones. The study demonstrates that translation techniques representing domesticating and foreignising strategies can be combined in order to preserve their balance in the target text.

Exploring the Linguistic Landscape of a Global Pandemic: Covid-19 Neologisms

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a great number of neologisms that summarize the unique experiences and challenges of the global health crisis. This article investigates the creation methods, communicative purposes, and social reflections of these new constructions. Theoretical Framework: The connection between language, culture, and the COVID-19 pandemic is examined using an analytical approach based on a thorough literature review. The theoretical analysis in this descriptive qualitative study is based on structural semantics. Methodology: 35 neologisms widely used in the media, social networks, and conversational communication in Albanian during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic were collected and analyzed according to their word formation properties and semantic content. Findings: Our analysis shows that the urgency and universality of efforts to combat the pandemic have accelerated the rapid manifestation of new lexical units. These neologisms arise predominantly as full or partial direct borrowings, with English serving as the primary source language. Emergence processes include translation loans, borrowings, semantic loans, derivations, and mixed methods, reflecting the adaptability of the language in response to new challenges. Research Practical and Social Implication: These neologisms often appear as internationalisms, reflecting their widespread adoption across linguistic and cultural boundaries. By elucidating the mechanisms of the formation and spread of neologisms, we gain valuable insights into the evolution of language in response to global crises. Originality/Value: With this analysis, we aim to inform future research efforts and promote a nuanced understanding of the pandemic’s diverse effects on communication and society.

The Influence of the Bertolt Brecht System on Traditional Chinese Theater

Introduction. The article is devoted to the phenomenon of modern Chinese theater and aims to explore the ways of its evolution – from imitation of European avant-garde forms of theatrical art to the formation of an original artistic language. An important goal is also to identify the factors that have determined the unique aesthetic and meaningful characteristics of modern Chinese theater.Methodology and sources. As a result of the application of the comparative analysis method, the article compares the theatrical concepts of Ibsen, Stanislavsky and Brecht, which influenced the image of modern Chinese theater.Result and discussion. The special role of the European theatrical avant-garde is shown, namely, the concept of Brecht's dialectical drama, which became widespread in China at the end of the XX century. Over a twenty-year period (from 1959 to 1979), three so-called «Brecht booms» took place in China, radically transforming Chinese traditional theater. However, despite the high popularity of Brecht's ideas, the Chinese Theater did not turn into a literal translator of the European avant-garde, but formed its own artistic style based on traditional structures of audience perception. The key role in this process was played by the national cultural context – socio-political and mental – which determined the specific forms of adaptation of the cultural meanings of the European theater. The history of Chinese avant-garde theater lasts for more than forty years and began in the early 1980s. After experiencing a period of direct borrowing, Chinese theatrical figures came to rethink the European heritage in the context of their own culture. As a result, it was the middle path of Chinese theater development that turned out to be the most productive – a path that absorbed the outstanding artistic ideas of Stanislavsky and Brecht, the modern Western avant-garde, but also without rejecting traditional artistic principles. This is how Chinese theatrical culture has developed with its own unique style.Conclusion. The 20th century became the era of the interchange of Eastern and Western theatrical traditions, which largely shaped the world cultural landscape, in which the interaction of Brecht's theory and traditional Chinese culture forms a special topos.

ФОРМУВАННЯ СУЧАСНОГО ПРАВОВОГО ТЕРМІНОЛОГІЧНОГО АПАРАТУ В ІВРИТІ: СПОСОБИ ТА ВПЛИВ ІНШИХ ПРАВОВИХ СИСТЕМ

The article is dedicated to the peculiarities of the legal terminology formation, which took place in the process of the restoration of the Hebrew language and its becoming the official state language of the modern Israel. The legal system of Israel has been created during XX century, after near two-thousand-year period of its existence without own state, being limited to the small community’s common and religious law in different languages only. Thus, creation of the own state has demanded not only to adapt the legal institutes, but to develop new actual terminology in the new official state language. But the terminology complex of the Hebrew was based on the ancient language sources, so creation or adapting of the classic Hebrew words for the definition of the modern legal terms became a great scientific challenge. In the article we conclude, that new lexemes were not created in the process of the Israel legal terminology formation, but the old texts words were chosen, usually with some rethinking and reinterpretation of its meanings. This approach provides the possibility to avoid direct borrowing of the terms, which is a typical process in the reception of law in other states. Despite the fact that, in addition to the English Common Law, the formation of Israel’s legal system was influenced by the Ottoman and Romano-Germanic law, concepts from the English legal system were taken as the basis for the selection of many basic terms. The terms creation was not limited to formal denomination only. Often the process becomes more substantive, noticing the etymology, the content of the legal institute and the mechanisms of the practical law-enforcements. After this deep scientific work of the linguists and lawyers Hebrew terminology of the Israel legal system fully expresses the content and the scope of the concepts of the relevant legal institutes.

Adjective Lithuanianisms of the Kursenieki Language in Written Sources

In the 15th and 18th centuries, part of the Curonian population moved to the Curonian Spit. The settlers brought their own dialect, which became a separate ethnic minority language when they mixed with Lithuanians, Germans, and descendants of Prussians. It was mainly used in fishing and in fishermen’s homes. It did not have its own script, but various linguists and ethnographers have tried to record it using the scripts of other languages (German, Lithuanian, Latvian). Monuments of the Kursenieki language are sparse. In order to investigate the influence of the Lithuanian language on the adjectival lexis of Kursenieki adjectives from the point of view of etymology, and to examine how the impact of the Lithuanian language on Kursenieki adjectival lexis has changed over the last 150 years, the adjectival inventories of the Kursenieki language at the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, and the end of the 20th century are compared in the article. The descriptions of adjectives done by linguists who have studied the Kursenieki language are not exhaustive, as the descriptions of the loanwords of the Kursenieki language from the Lithuanian language tend to focus on nouns and verbs.
 The first dictionary in the study material is Maximilian Voelkel’s dictionary Die lettischen Sprachreste auf der Kurischen Nehrung, published in Tilsit in 1879. Its adjectival inventory is the smallest of the three dictionaries taken as the study material. The second source is a glossary compiled by Juris Plāķis and included as an appendix to his study Kursenieku valoda, published in 1927. The inventory of adjectives in this glossary is the largest. The third glossary was published in 1993 in Christliebe el Mogharbel’s dissertation, Nehrungskurisch. All three dictionaries contain a combined total of 272 adjectival lexemes. The distinction between the borrowings and inheritances was based on the Latvian dictionary (Mīlenbahs ir Endzelīns, 1923–1932), the Lithuanian dictionary (Naktinienė, 2017), and the following criteria: phonomorphological, lexical, formation, semantic, and geographical. A total of 50 lexemes were identified, which can be considered Lithuanianisms. Among them, there are some problematic cases that could be assumed to be Curonisms. In total, nine Slavisms have been identified from the identified Lithuanianisms (since Kursenieki language did not have direct borrowings from Slavic languages, they are classified as Lithuanianisms). Slavisms have been divided into adapted and non-adapted Slavisms. It has been observed that the semantic group of the Christianity discourse is particularly prominent in the adjectival inventory under study.
 In order to better observe the interaction between Lithuanian and Kursenieki languages, additional material from a period older and later than the period under study was taken for comparison – Peter Pallas’ dictionary Linguarum totius orbis Vocabularia comparativa of the late 18th century; and the decoded material of one audio recording recorded by Dalia Kiseliūnaitė at the beginning of the 21st century, collected during expeditions in Sweden.

ENJEUX ENVIRONNEMENTAUX ET INNOVATION LEXICALE. LE DOMAINE DE LA MOBILITÉ (ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND LEXICAL INNOVATION. THE MOBILITY FIELD)

One of the major issues of today is the climate emergency. The European Union’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and become climate neutral affect most areas of the economy, especially transport, where critical transformations are needed to meet current demands. Vehicle manufacturing has always been a dynamic sector that has constantly seen significant developments and innovations. In the desire to find and use new sources of energy, in recent years, vehicle manufacturers have proposed hybrid and electric models. Nevertheless, during the years of the Covid 19 pandemic, they recorded massive losses, people’s transport habits undergoing very large changes. The transition to an electric fleet, the use of bicycles and electric scooters, as well as changes in everyday life have caused the entry into the common language of some technical terms and the creation of new lexical units. In this paper we aim to identify the neologisms that appeared in the field of sustainable mobility, based on the consultation of a corpus of written press, websites of automobile manufacturers and blogs. We will analyze the presence of official neologisms in journalistic texts, the procedures by which they are formed, the weight of terms with denotative value and those with connotative value, direct borrowings and loan translations, multiple translations of some neologisms from other languages.

Multi-word echoes of English: Visible vs. invisible Anglicisms in Danish

The focus of this article is the developments in contemporary Danish of direct vis-à-vis indirect borrowing strategies regarding English expressions. In order to distinguish direct borrowings of such items from codeswitches, the author presents a number of approaches found in the existing literature and suggests an operational definition of codeswitching. Eight scenarios involving the adoption and/or translation of English multi-word or polymorphemic expressions are presented, and the trajectories over three decades of forty-four Danish Anglicisms representing all scenarios are investigated. The basis for this empirical research is the gigantic Danish text archive Infomedia, and the results show the relative success of ‘invisible’ multi-word and polymorphemic expressions: Anglicisms using all-Danish material but calquing their English etymons and thus representing Anglo-American concepts in Danish disguise.

The Prefix Ta-: From Kambera to Indonesian

This research explores the borrowing of prefix ta- from bahasa Kambera (BK) to bahasa Indonesia (BI). This study is exceptional since the borrowing is from the non-dominant (as donor) language to the dominant language (as recipient) which has never existed before (there is no data of words borrowed from BK to BI). Besides, most borrowing from local languages in Indonesia to BI are in forms of words, not affixes. This descriptive qualitative study finds that, as its function in BK, the prefix ta- also has the same role in BI. It is used to derive the agentless intransitive achievement verbs with no agent. The prefix ta- is attached directly to the roots. The roots mostly are transitive and intransitive verbs, as well as adjectives and the derived forms after ta- is attached are mostly intransitive verbs and limited adjective (used as modifier in noun phrase). The prefix ta- is borrowed through direct borrowing which rely on the knowledge of the speakers. The borrowing occurred in the past when native speaker of Kambera were insisted on using bahasa Indonesia as the formal language. The practical use of the prefix ta- could be the most prominent reason of why this phenomenon happened.

Aldhelm’s Fandom: The Humble Virtues of Boniface’s Riddles

Abstract St Boniface, the eighth-century scholar, missionary, and eventual martyr, is generally characterized as an important historical figure but a bad poet. In part it is because his verse is so strongly marked by direct borrowings from Aldhelm that it is easy to assume he did not possess the creativity or ability to write for himself. Here, we seek to rehabilitate Boniface’s collection of Latin riddles about the personified Virtues and Vices, engaging especially with Humilitas Cristiana (‘Christian Humility’), Virginitas … humilium (‘Virginity of the Humble’), Superbia (‘Pride’), and Vana gloria iactantia (‘Vainglorious Boasting’). We examine Boniface’s riddles through the lens of fan studies, arguing that fandom and fan fiction provide insights into group-identity formation and gift-giving that reframe Boniface’s debt to Aldhelm, as well as his entire creative project. Like a writer of fan fiction, Boniface creates new characters based on his reading of Aldhelm’s De virginitate (‘Concerning Virginity’) and, through them, he develops Aldhelm’s warning against taking pride in virtue. However, Boniface’s riddle-subjects speak an encoded message that only a true fan of Aldhelm could appreciate. Distance from this fandom has led to scholarly neglect of a fascinating poetic collection, but we hope to bridge the gap.

The international comparative approach to higher education leadership development: evaluating the longer-term impacts

ABSTRACT The international comparative approach has become an increasingly important approach to higher education leadership development, with higher education leaders from the global south looking into practices in higher education management in the global north for comparative insights. But it is always a delicate task in comparative studies to decide how the ‘best practices’ in the developed countries can be adopted and adapted to suit the local contexts and the local needs in the developing world. This study examines the impacts of a higher education leadership development program on Chinese university leaders, a few years after their three-month exposure to the Canadian system of higher education governance and management. The findings of the study suggest that the long-term impacts of system awareness tend to happen at a more global and conceptual level, with most leaders reporting broader global perspectives on their work. There are self-reported cases of direct borrowing of specific policies, but the borrowing is done in ways that are sensitive to local contexts. The findings are encouraging as they show that system awareness as a result of international comparative leadership development can transcend both the positivist and the relativist views of leadership.

О некоторых образах архаических монет Ионии и Малой Азии на скифских зооморфных бронзовых бляхах

The article studies the influence of zoomorphic images on the archaic coinage of Ionia and Asia Minor on the Scythian animal style. The borrowing of ancient coin images and designs by Scythians has long been the subject of a separate study. However, as a rule, the attention of researchers was limited to a circle of prestigious things made of precious metals mainly in the second half of the 5 th—4 th centuries BC. As it will be shown in this article, the influence of the Ionian and Asia Minor coinage on the formation of images of the Scythian animal style can be traced at least from the turn of the 6 th—5 th centuries BC and manifests itself not only in prestigious items, but also in quite ordinary bronze plaques, mainly decorating horse bridles. It is proved that in a number of cases, within the framework of the Scythian animal style, there was a direct borrowing of coin images and motifs (the full face of a lion, the motif of a four-fingered clawed paw, composition consisting of three boar heads). In other cases, the influence of coinage on the formation of images of the Scythian animal style seems more than likely (profile images of a cat predator and a lion, the “bird on a fish” plot). It is suggested that the influence of archaic Greek coinage on the Scythian animal style could be associated with waves of Ionian and Asia Minor migrants to the Northern Black Sea region in the second half of the 6 th—early 5 th centuries BC, or with the contacts between the Scythians, Ionians and Greeks during the Scythian-Persian war and the period immediately following it.

Концепт «res publica» и его рецепция в византийском праве: транслитерации

The problem of reception of the concept “res publica” is complex and multifaceted. It has been thoroughly studied in relation to the period of the Middle Ages. The task of the author is to demonstrate, that the possibilities of applying the information approach to the field of cognitive surveying to reveal the content of receptions and LatinGreek transliterations of the concept “res publica” with the help of the Expert System “Byzantine Law and Acts”. The comparisons of Greek translations and compilations with their Latin prototypes of Byzantine law prove: their compilations did not necessarily follow their prototypes in conveying the notion of “res publica”. It, as a rule, was replaced by other Greek concepts and word-combinations. For them, as well as their Latin prototypes, a certain semantic ambiguity is evident. Accordingly, the mediaeval Byzantine jurists felt the need to use the direct reception of the Latin concept “res publica”, in particular “rei publicae causa”. It served as the subject of attention and professional lawyers used this concept to interpret and explain the content of the sources of medieval Byzantine law. Noticeable discrepancies in the recording forms of the identified receptions and Greek transliterations of the concept “res publica” are probably due to individual characteristics of Medieval Byzantine lawyers and their professional qualifications. The direct borrowings of the concept “res publica causa” or its transliterations, revealed in medieval Byzantine law monuments, were purely terminological in most cases. It, if it is admissible, may be considered as a kind of cultural phenomenon.

ТИТУЛЬНАЯ ГЕРАЛЬДИКА МОСКОВСКОГО ЦАРСТВА И ЗАПАДНОЕВРОПЕЙСКАЯ ГЕРАЛЬДИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

The article analyzes the history of the influence of the European heraldic tradition on the titular heraldry of the Moscow Tsardom of the 16th – 17th centuries. There are two stages of such influence with its own characteristic features for each. The first stage was associated with the formation of the first complex of titular coats of arms, which were presented on the Great Seal of Ivan IV, made in the late 1570s. Among the 24 titular coats of arms of the Great Seal, five coats of arms were borrowed from the heraldry of the Baltic States and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They meant those territories that were annexed during the Livonian War or claimed by Ivan IV. Seals and even coins of that time acted as sources of heraldic images. From them images were transferred to the Great Seal without any changes. In other words, it was a direct borrowing of European coats of arms into the heraldry of Russia. The second stage is connected with the creation in 1672 of the tsar’s “Titulyarnik” (Titular Book), the first Russian compilation of coats of arms. Of the 33 coats of arms of the “Titulyarnik”, nine were directly borrowed from European heraldry (mainly from the heraldry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). However, the methods of borrowing were more diverse. In addition to the direct transfer of the armorial figures, the coats of arms were changed, Christian symbols was strengthened in them. On the other hand, coats of arms could be borrowed on the principle of belonging to a certain category of territories. Finally, another way was to borrow either individual armorial figures or heraldic compositions. Such a variety of ways of borrowing clearly testifies to the increased heraldic culture of the Muscovy by the end of the 17th century.

Академическая культура университета в условиях цифровой трансформации образования

The article is devoted to the analysis of digital academic culture, those phenomena in the field of education that result from computerisation and the use of digital methods in the educational pro-cess, as well as the system of values, motives, forms and modes of communication that are associated with these processes. The article examines the perceptions of university teachers about the peculiarities of students' behaviour in the spaces of virtual culture, primarily in the field of netiquette, – digital ethics of students. The empirical materials were obtained using the method of in-depth interviews of teachers. As a result of the study, the dominants of teachers' understanding of students' digital ethics were identified: problems of borrowing (direct borrowing of significant text fragments, failure to comply with the ethics of citation, attempts to bypass the systems of text originality checking, submission of the same work by two or more students); superficial work with educational information (poor or superficial knowledge of the subject, revealed in the process of control measures in the framework of current certification and practical assignments); problems of communication in the image of students' digital ethics; and problems of communication in the virtual culture. The article analyses the main problems that appear in the process of network interaction of teachers and students with each other and with the virtual environment of the university, and suggests ways to overcome them.

The Relationship between 3 Maccabees and the Vetus Latina of Esther

Abstract There is a widely recognized connection between Esther and 3 Maccabees. This is particularly so for the “noncanonical” sections of Esther and the letters and prayers in 3 Maccabees, which appear to be the result of direct borrowing. The direction of borrowing, however, is still debated. Although the Septuagint text has been the main basis of comparison, I suggest, in contrast, that the Vetus Latina is the best text for comparison. I argue that there are at least two stages of borrowing between the texts and that the borrowing goes in both directions.

A comparative lexical analysis of vehicle spare parts terms in Arabic

PurposeInvestigating technical terms of vehicle spare parts used in the mechanics' jargon in Saudi Arabic (SA) and Yemeni Arabic (YA) has received scant attention. The current study, therefore, is an attempt to shed some light on the topic. The aim is to identify the strategies used for creating equivalents in vehicle spare parts vocabulary and to pinpoint the most salient variations between the two dialects in this jargon.Design/methodology/approachMore than 250 terms of vehicle spare parts were collected and analyzed qualitatively. Each list contains nearly 125 items. They were gathered from two main resources: semi-structured interviews with vehicle mechanics, and written lists from spare parts dealers in both countries.FindingsThree main strategies are found at work: lexical borrowing (from English and French), metaphor and loan translation. Direct borrowing is the most influential strategy where loanwords represent nearly one-third of the data, the majority of which is from English. Metaphorical extensions and literal translations also have an important role to play in the process of spare part naming. While the two dialects share common practices in terms of literal translation, they are characterized by many differences with regard to lexical borrowing and metaphors.Originality/valueThe study approaches an under-researched topic that is related to the mechanic's jargon in Arabic and leaves the door open for further research. The findings of this study may be used as guidelines for Arabic academies and those who are concerned with translating and studying technical terms in the field of mechanical engineering.

A comparative wordlist for the languages of The Gran Chaco, South America.

Home to more than twenty indigenous languages belonging to six linguistic families, the Gran Chaco has raised the interest of many linguists from different backgrounds. While some have focused on finding deeper genetic relations between different language groups, others have looked into similarities from the perspective of areal linguistics. In order to contribute to further research of areal and genetic features among these languages, we have compiled a comparative wordlist consisting of translational equivalents for 326 concepts - representing basic and ethnobiological vocabulary - for 26 language varieties. Since the data were standardized in various ways, they can be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In order to illustrate this in detail, we have carried out an initial computer-assisted analysis of parts of the data by searching for shared lexicosemantic patterns resulting from structural rather than direct borrowings.