Features of writtenness transferred

This paper emphasizes language contact situations in general as an origin of hybrid features of writtenness. Furthermore it stresses the necessity of taking into account the medial-conceptional differences between languages of distance (prototypically written) and languages of proximity (prototypically spoken) when analyzing language contact data and language change. Two forms of contact are distinguished here: contact affecting language as a whole and contact affecting written discourse. As is shown by the example of Faroese-Danish bilingualism on the Faroe Islands, these forms may interact and interfere with each other, producing varied results.