volume, summarizes previous research, illustrates the methodology and analysis, and presents the results of two case studies. We provide evidence in support of a semantically finer-grained approach to word order that distinguishes between various non-subject constituents, and illustrate how this can be leveraged to detect areal effects in syntax. We implement this approach on a sample of language corpora from 35 languages, including Turkic, Iranian, Semitic, Hellenic, Kartvelian, and Armenian from what we term the Western Asian Transition Zone (WATZ). In a first case study, we demonstrate the existence of a robust Goals Last effect across the entire database and formulate a revised hierarchy for postverbal placement. Our approach identifies the specific properties of spatial goals that distinguish them from metaphorically related roles such as recipient, addressee, and benefactive, which previous studies had conflated. In a second case study, we investigate weight effects on post-verbal placement, concluding that overall, the impact of weight is minimal, a finding reflected in several chapters of the volume. The final section summarizes the contributions to the volume, and the Appendices provide raw data summaries across the entire WOWA data set, and information on sources. Geoffrey Haig,
