Convergence and divergence of European languages

'Eurolinguistics' has established itself as a new orientation of linguistic research and a complement to structural linguistics over the past few years. The multilingual individual is at the centre of this new field, as he is considered to be the locus of language change and development. With its Europe-wide orientation, Eurolinguistics means a departure from a narrow monolingual framework and an opening-up to a larger field of research which also includes other disciplines of European studies (Europäistik). Fourteen of the 20 articles published here were given as papers in Pushkin, while six were presented as written contributions in connection with the 1999 Eurolinguistics symposium which became a meeting place for scholars from the East and the West: West-European linguistics meets East-European linguistics.