Language Contact: An Introduction

✍ Scribed by Sarah G. Thomason

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 322
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Language contact is everywhere: many nations have more than one official language, and quite possibly most people in the world speak two or more languages. What happens to different peoples and to their languages when they come into contact? In this survey of the social, political and linguistic consequences of language contact, Sarah G. Thomason focuses on what happens to the languages themselves - sometimes nothing, sometimes new words enter a language, sometimes new sounds and sentence structures will spread across many languages in a large geographical region; more rarely, entirely new languages arise in a contact situation. Conversely, one of the languages in contact may vanish entirely, and issues of language endangerment and death are explored here, together with chapters on multilingualism, pidgins and creoles, mechanisms of interference and the origins and results of contact-induced language change. Accessibly written by a leading expert in the field, this book is an ideal introduction for beginning students at all levels, and a useful resource for postgraduates, teachers and academic linguists.Key Features * Accessibly written by a leading figure in the field * Sources and further reading provided for each chapter * World map showing the location of the languages discussed

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 11
What is language contact?......Page 13
What about the people in contact situations?......Page 15
How old is language contact?......Page 18
Where is language contact?......Page 20
What happens to languages in contact?......Page 22
Sources and further reading......Page 25
How do languages come into contact?......Page 27
Stable and unstable contact situations......Page 33
Sources and further reading......Page 37
3 Multilingualism in Nations and Individuals......Page 39
Multilingual nations, multilingual people......Page 42
Atittudes toward multilingualism......Page 44
One nation, more than one language......Page 48
Language policies and language planning......Page 50
A case study: India......Page 54
Social and political consequences of multilingualism......Page 58
Multilingualism in individuals: learning and using two or more languages......Page 60
Sources and further reading......Page 67
4 Contact-Induced Language Change: Results......Page 71
Are some linguistic features unborrowable?......Page 75
Social predictors of contact-induced change: imperfect learning vs. its absence......Page 78
When imperfect learning plays no role in the interference process......Page 79
When imperfect learning plays a role in the interference process......Page 86
Linguistic predictors of contact-induced change......Page 88
Speakers' attitudes: why contact-induced change is unpredictable......Page 89
Effects on the recipient-language structure......Page 97
How can we tell whether contact-induced change has occurred?......Page 103
Sources and further reading......Page 107
A definition......Page 111
Some linguistic areas around the world......Page 116
The Balkans......Page 117
The Baltic......Page 122
The Ethiopian highlands......Page 123
South Asia......Page 126
The Sepik River basin, New Guinea......Page 129
The Pacific Northwest of North America......Page 132
The complex histories of linguistic areas......Page 137
Sources and further reading......Page 138
6 Contact-Induced Language Change: Mechanisms......Page 141
Mechanism 1: Code-switching......Page 143
Mechanism 2: Code alternation......Page 148
Mechanism 3: Passive familiarity......Page 151
Mechanism 4: ‘Negotiation’......Page 154
Mechanism 5: Second-language acquisition strategies......Page 158
Mechanism 6: Bilingual first-language acquisition......Page 160
Mechanism 7: Deliberate decision......Page 161
Two final points about mechanisms of interference......Page 164
Sources and further reading......Page 165
7 Contact Languages I: Pidgins and Creoles......Page 169
What?......Page 171
When and where?......Page 174
Pidgins and creoles are not maximally simple and not all alike......Page 179
Pidgin/creole genesis theories: where does the grammar come from?......Page 186
Monogenesis......Page 188
Abrupt genesis scenarios......Page 189
Gradual genesis scenarios......Page 195
Do different genesis routes have different linguistic outcomes?......Page 200
Sources and further reading......Page 201
8 Contact Languages II: Other Mixed Languages......Page 208
What, when, where?......Page 210
Two routes to bilingual mixed-language genesis......Page 215
The genesis of bilingual mixed languages in persistent ethnic groups......Page 219
The abrupt genesis of bilingual mixed languages in new ethnic groups......Page 224
Prospects for future study......Page 229
Sources and further reading......Page 230
9 Language Death......Page 234
Defining language death......Page 235
A theoretical framework......Page 237
How do language die?......Page 238
Attrition......Page 239
Grammatical replacement......Page 244
No loss of structure, not much borrowing......Page 247
Sources and further reading......Page 250
10 Endangered Languages......Page 252
Sources and further reading......Page 257
Appendix 1: A Map of Some Contact Situations Around the World......Page 259
Appendix 2: Official Languages in the World's Nations......Page 262
Glossary......Page 268
References......Page 293
Language index......Page 309
Names index......Page 315
Subject index......Page 318