Bernard Comrie is a linguist specializing in linguistic typology and historical comparisons of languages. His research includes grammatical tense, grammatical voice and numeral systems, with fieldwork in geographically distant communities. His own account emphasizes examining many different kinds of language when assessing generalizations.[ref]
Research profile by Bernard Comrie. Specialization and autobiographical research statement
A simple methodological example shows why this matters. English can form a passive voice construction such as
The pump was repaired. Finding that construction in one language establishes a possibility, while a claim about all languages requires much wider evidence and explicit criteria for recognizing the relevant construction. This illustrates the difference between a description and a proposed cross-language generalization.Bernard Comrie co-developed the Leipzig Glossing Rules by Bernard Comrie and others with Martin Haspelmath and Balthasar Bickel. The conventions expose how a proposed analysis segments and labels an expression, helping other researchers evaluate it.[ref]
Leipzig Glossing Rules by Bernard Comrie and others. About the rules and developer credit
Portrait of Bernard Comrie
. Named headshot linked from his official institutional profile. New to topics? Read the docs here!