Geographical typology as a window into language evolution and change

What drives languages to evolve? This talk promotes the return to isogloss exploration—the foundation of dialectology—by incorporating new mapping tools and further justifying the utility of geographical typology for understanding large-scale language change. It comprises four typologically oriented case studies spanning two subfields of linguistics—lexical and morphosyntactic domains—across various subregions of Maritime Southeast Asia. A critical approach will be taken to linguistic features previously employed for phylogenetic purposes, such as sound change and the distribution of innovatory lexemes, as well as those not yet explored from a subgrouping perspective, including person-indexing patterns and grammatical loss.