Language Contact

How Contact Happens

• Two groups enter unoccupied area• A group encroaches in large numbers• A group trickles in in small numbers• Groups meet in No Man’s Land• Long-time neighbors develop connection• Language imposed through education

Contact Outcomes• Contact-induced language change

– Change through borrowing– Change through imperfect learning

• Extreme language mixture– Pidgins and creoles– Bilingual mixed languages

• Language death– Attrition– Grammatical replacement– Extinction

Language Change• Borrowing:

– Begins with non-basic words, then all words– Phonology first in loans, then through the system– Typologically compatible morphology and syntax

• Imperfect learning:– Begins with syntax, avoiding unusual forms– Phonology also changed to better match source– Words taken in smaller quantities– Changed language eventually assimilated into original

• The two types often happen in pairs

Language Mixture• Pidgins

– Two languages in regular but limited contact– Vocabulary usually from one language– Structure takes most universal aspects of each– No one’s native language, limited material

• Creoles– Native language of a speech community– May be developed as creole or stabilized pidgin

• Bilingual mixed languages– Require speakers to be bilingual in two languages– Code-switching happens in systematic ways– Mixed languages are in-group only, not lingua franca

Language Death• Attrition

– As speech community shrinks, material is lost– Eventually, only able to express common concepts– Usually leads to extinction

• Grammatical replacement– Starts with borrowing from surrounding languages– Eventually, little trace of original language remains

• Extinction– First generation monolingual in original language– Second generation bilingual with dominant language– Third generation monolingual in new language

Multilingualism in Individuals• Kids acquire two languages the same as one

– Make same mistakes regardless of other languages– Aware from a young age of language distinction

• Second language learners influenced by first– Contrastive analysis: teach differences from L1– Error analysis: certain features are difficult regardless of L1

• Attitudes towards bilingualism– Psychological handicap (provably false)– Mark of education– Mundane fact of existence– Unwelcome necessity– Element of ethnic identity

Multilingualism in Nations

• All nations are multilingual to some extent• Most nations are meaningfully multilingual• Language policy is a complex problem

– Maintaining national languages requires resources– Choosing one language can promote one group– Not all languages are sufficiently developed to use– Language is used as a tool for expressing identity

Reference

• Sarah G. Thomason: Language Contact: An Introduction.