Introduction: the crosslinguistic application of grammatical categories in the history of linguistics

ABSTRACT In the present introduction, I aim to provide some general context for the case studies in this special issue by introducing some recent developments in linguistics that inspired them (in particular the Haspelmath – Newmeyer debate) and by roughly sketching tendencies in the long history of linguistic description. I argue that the crosslinguistic application of linguistic categories is an old phenomenon, going back two millennia, that offers an entire array of research opportunities. This introduction also surveys the papers in the special issue, embedded in the aforementioned historical sketch, and the principal questions to which they offer some first tentative answers. I lay particular emphasis on the interplay between linguistic historiography and linguistics, advocating the view that conceptual-historical criticism should be part and parcel of the linguist’s modus operandi.