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Language Contact: An Introduction
Language contact is 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
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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September 2, 2008
Sarah G. Thomason's LANGUAGE CONTACT: An Introduction is a textbook for undergraduates. The author, professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan and an expert on certain Native American languages, surveys the phenomenon surrounding two or more languages interacting with each other.
Thomason begins with explaining how language contact happens. Students who don't know that bi- or multilingualism is the norm for most parts of the world will learn of the great bounty of languages in places like India. Thomason describes not only contact in the context of village neighbor multilingualism, but also that between a written religious language and a vernacular, and between the languages of colonial authorities and the local languages of the colony.
Thomason speaks also of "linguistic areas", i.e. Sprachbunds. Her examples include the Balkans, the Baltic, the Ethiopian highlands, South Asia, New Guinea, and the Pacific Northwest of North America. However, my enthusiasm for Sprachbund study has dimmed after reading the papers by Lyle Campbell and Thomas Stolz in the collection LINGUISTIC AREAS in the collection Matras et al. They suggest that no satisfactory definition for a language group can be reached, and it would be better just to concentrate more on the individual borrowings. Plus, Koptjevskaja-Tamm has a paper in there showing that no isogloss spans the entire Baltic, and so a "Baltic linguistic area" is an exaggeration.
For me, Thomason's coverage of the actual mechanisms of contact-induced language change was the most interesting. She presents seven mechanisms: code-switching, code alternation, passive familiarity, "negotion", second-language acquisition strategies, bilingual first-language acquisition and deliberate decision. This is sure to be enlightening even if you have previously read widely in this field.
Two full chapters are dedicated to new languages formed under contact. The first covers pidgins and creoles, benefiting from a great deal of recent research that improve on older thought about the development of languages in the colonial world. The second chapter covers "mixed languages", and is a good introduction to the debate about whether more than a couple of these really exist in the world.
Finally, the last chapter is sadly about the process of language death. Thomason lists ways in which languages dwindle to nothing, such as attrition, grammatical replacement and simple disappearance without much change.
Thomason's textbook is not perfect, but it does cover all the basics in a way that is approachable for readings with only rudimentary training in linguistics.
Thomason begins with explaining how language contact happens. Students who don't know that bi- or multilingualism is the norm for most parts of the world will learn of the great bounty of languages in places like India. Thomason describes not only contact in the context of village neighbor multilingualism, but also that between a written religious language and a vernacular, and between the languages of colonial authorities and the local languages of the colony.
Thomason speaks also of "linguistic areas", i.e. Sprachbunds. Her examples include the Balkans, the Baltic, the Ethiopian highlands, South Asia, New Guinea, and the Pacific Northwest of North America. However, my enthusiasm for Sprachbund study has dimmed after reading the papers by Lyle Campbell and Thomas Stolz in the collection LINGUISTIC AREAS in the collection Matras et al. They suggest that no satisfactory definition for a language group can be reached, and it would be better just to concentrate more on the individual borrowings. Plus, Koptjevskaja-Tamm has a paper in there showing that no isogloss spans the entire Baltic, and so a "Baltic linguistic area" is an exaggeration.
For me, Thomason's coverage of the actual mechanisms of contact-induced language change was the most interesting. She presents seven mechanisms: code-switching, code alternation, passive familiarity, "negotion", second-language acquisition strategies, bilingual first-language acquisition and deliberate decision. This is sure to be enlightening even if you have previously read widely in this field.
Two full chapters are dedicated to new languages formed under contact. The first covers pidgins and creoles, benefiting from a great deal of recent research that improve on older thought about the development of languages in the colonial world. The second chapter covers "mixed languages", and is a good introduction to the debate about whether more than a couple of these really exist in the world.
Finally, the last chapter is sadly about the process of language death. Thomason lists ways in which languages dwindle to nothing, such as attrition, grammatical replacement and simple disappearance without much change.
Thomason's textbook is not perfect, but it does cover all the basics in a way that is approachable for readings with only rudimentary training in linguistics.
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