Matthias Urban
List of John Benjamins publications in which Matthias Urban is involved.
Journal
ISSN 2210-2116 | E‑ISSN 2210‑2124
2025 Combining disparate lines of evidence in the study of the history of language isolates, exemplified with Mochica from Northern Peru Investigating Language Isolates: Typological and diachronic perspectives, Salaberri, Iker, Dorota Krajewska, Ekaitz Santazilia and Eneko Zuloaga (eds.), pp. 176–207 | Chapter
This article provides a synthesizing discussion of different lines of evidence for the linguistic history of the Mochica language (Northern Peru). Among the topics discussed are the inference of the former geographic extension through toponymic study; the study of indigenous personal names as a… read more
2019 Spotlights on the notion of lexical motivation across languages in the Western linguistic tradition, from the 16th century to the present Historiographia Linguistica 46:1/2, pp. 48–87 | Article
This article shows that an interest in differences and similarities in patterns of lexical motivation across languages has a long, if discontinuous, history in Western linguistic thought. The aim of the article is to trace this history by presenting examples that highlight the enduring… read more
2018 Quechuan terms for internal organs of the torso: Synchronic, diachronic, and typological perspectives Studies in Language 42:3, pp. 505–528 | Article
This article discusses the terminology for the major internal organs of the torso across the Quechuan language family. From both semasiological and onomasiological points of view, differences in the synchronic organization of the semantic field across individual Quechua varieties as well as the… read more
2011 Asymmetries in overt marking and directionality in semantic change Journal of Historical Linguistics 1:1, pp. 3–47 | Article
This article is a contribution to the long standing issue of identifying directionality in semantic change. Drawing on evidence from a sample of morphologically complex terms in basic vocabulary for 149 globally distributed languages, it is argued that cross-linguistically preferred synchronic… read more