This sub-project aims to develop a novel methodological toolbox for analyzing the impact of language contact on morphological change under diverse circumstances, w.r.t. the given linguistic and geographic situation in the three areal sub-projects.

The three areal sub-projects are characterized by fundamentally diverse linguistic structures and cover environments shaped by particular geographies (mountain ranges, river networks, islands, sea, vegetation, etc.). This provides a unique starting point for investigating the role and impact of language contact on morphology, and in particular on how historical language contact can be modeled under consideration of particular geographic circumstances.

The Celtic and Romance languages, which have attracted more academic attention and are thus better understood, will be used for developing and evaluating novel methodologies (test-bed case studies). Language families and areas about which less is known (the Sino-Tibetan and the South American case studies) will likely benefit from these newly established methods – and thus take the role of application case studies.