Cover not available

Introduction published In: Similatives: Semantic sources, pathways, and types of usage
Edited by Anna Kisiel, Hélène Vassiliadou, Valentina Benigni, Beatrice Bernasconi, Lieselotte Brems and Dejan Stosic
[Lingvisticæ Investigationes 48:2] 2025
► pp. 179–188

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Introduction

 | KU Leuven
 | University of Strasbourg
 | Roma Tre University
 | University of Turin
 | University of Liège
 | University of Toulouse
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with KU Leuven.

Published online: 19 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/li.00127.kis
Article outline
  • 1.Encoding similarity
  • 2.Perspectives on similatives: An overview of contributions
  • 3.Variation and contact in similative constructions
  • 4.Beyond type nouns: Alternative sources of similatives
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (23)
References
Arutjunova, N. D. (1990). Toždestvo i podobie: sravnenie i identifikacija [Identity and similarity: comparison and identification]. Moscow.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bužarovska, E. (2005). Equality versus similarity constructions in English. Journal of Language and Linguistics, 4(1), 74–99.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cooke, T., Jäkel, F., Wallraven, Ch. & Bülthoff, H. H. (2007). Multimodal similarity and categorization of novel, three-dimensional objects. Neuropsychologia, 45(3), 484–495. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Creissels, D. (2017). Similarity, suitability, and non-epistemic modalities (volitionality, ability, and obligation). In Y. Treis & M. Vanhove (Eds), Similative and Equative Constructions: A cross-linguistic perspective, 79–90. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fortescue, M. (2010). Similitude: A conceptual category. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia, 42(2), 117–142. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giomi, R. (2022). Similatives are Manners, comparatives are Quantities (except when they aren’t). Open Linguistics, 8(1), 650–674. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gipper, S. (2018). From similarity to evidentiality. Uncertain visual/perceptual evidentiality in Yurakaré and other languages. In A. Foolen, H. de Hoop and G. Mulder (Eds), Evidence for Evidentiality, 257–280. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goddard, C. & Wierzbicka, A. (2014). Words and Meanings: Lexical Semantics Across Domains, Languages, and Cultures. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldstone, R. L. (1994). The role of similarity in categorization: providing a groundwork. Cognition, 52(2), 125–157. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hahn, U. & M. Ramscar (Eds). (2001). Similarity and categorization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hampton, J. A. (2015). Categories, prototypes and exemplars. In N. Riemer (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of semantics, 125–141. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (2017). Equative constructions in world-wide perspective: A cross-linguistic perspective. In Y. Treis & M. Vanhove (Eds), Similative and Equative Constructions, 9–32. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. & Buchholz, O. (1998). Equative and similative constructions in the languages of Europe. In J. van der Auwera (Ed.), Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe, 277–334. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Irsara, M. (2021). Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin: Interlingual contrastive features and micro-variation. Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads, 1(1), 47–93.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janebová, M., Martinková, M. & Gast, V. (2023). Czech type nouns: Evidence from corpora. In W. Mihatsch, I. Hennecke, A. Kisiel, A. Kolyaseva, K. Davidse & L. Brems (Eds), Type Noun Constructions in Slavic, Germanic and Romance Languages, 571–617. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Letuchiy, A. (2008). Сравнительные конструкции, ирреалис и эвиденциальность [Comparative constructions, irrealis and evidentiality]. In. B. Wiemer (Ed.), Lexikalische Evidenzialitäts-Markerin slavischen, 217–238. München: Wien.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mihatsch, W. et al. (2023) Type Noun Constructions in Slavic, Germanic and Romance Languages. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive representations of semantic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 104(3), 192–233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sovran, T. (1992). Between similarity and sameness. Journal of Pragmatics, 18(4), 329–344. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Umbach, C. & Gust, H. (2021). Grading similarity. In Löbner, S., Gamerschlag, T., Kalenscher, T., Schrenk, M., Zeevat, H. (Eds), Concepts, Frames and Cascades in Semantics, Cognition and Ontology, 365–386. Springer Open. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vassiliadou, H. & Lammert, M. (Eds) (2022). A Crosslinguistic Perspective on Clear and Approximate categorization. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiemer, B. (2024). Polish jakoby: an exotic similative-reportive doughnut? Tracing the pathway and conditions of its rise. Linguistics, 62(3), 729–767. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue