Lars Johanson, is professor in Turcology at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the University of Mainz, Germany. He has published extensively on synchronic and diachronic linguistics, especially in the domains of aspect-mood-tense, language contact, and language typology.Martine Robbeets, Ph.D. (2003), University of Leiden, holds a DFG fellowship at the University of Mainz. Her research is on morphological reconstruction and on the genealogical relationship of Japanese with the Transeurasian languages, areas in which she has several publications.