Dataset and Code: Lability in Balkan Slavic

This is a dataset for the article: Makartsev, Maxim; Wahlström, Max and Anastasia Escher. 2025. "Lability in Balkan Slavic," Studies in Language 49 [Special issue: “Areal Effects in Argument-Coding Patterns”] Abstract: The article assesses claims made in the previous studies regarding the increase in the number of identical transitive and intransitive verbs with patient-like arguments, that is, patientively labile (P-labile) verbs, in Macedonian in comparison with the other South Slavic languages. Based on an extensive sample of 130 varieties from different parts of the South Slavic dialectal continuum, this study confirms the observations regarding increased lability in Western and some Southeastern Macedonian dialects. Additionally, outside the labile hotbed, lability remains low with relatively homogenous patterning. Keywords: lability, causativity, Balkan linguistics, South Slavic dialectology, language contact.