Cover not available

In:Language Contact in the Territory of the Former Soviet Union
Edited by Diana Forker and Lenore A. Grenoble
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 50] 2021
► pp. 35–58

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Lexical convergence reflects complex historical processes

A case study of two borderline regions of Russia

 | Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Published online: 18 June 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.50.02che
Abstract
This paper is an illustration of how deep historical and anthropological analyses may be of use in studies of linguistic convergence and in contact linguistics. The study reported here aims at investigating the lexical influence of Russian on East Caucasian languages. In this study, I use an extended version of the DagLoans wordlist created by the members of the Linguistic Convergence Laboratory (HSE, Moscow). I collect this list in the languages belonging to two different linguistic areas of Daghestan: the Rutul area and the Tsezic area. The two areas share many sociolinguistic features, such as the neighboring languages, multilingualism and migration patterns. However, the wordlists show completely different counts for loanwords coming from source languages with similar status (Azerbaijani and Georgian on the one hand and Russian on the other). In order to explain the observed counts, I discuss historical and anthropological data from the two regions and propose several possible explanations. With these explanations, I intend to show that studies of language contact cannot be based exclusively on geographical proximity and surface sociolinguistic profiling and should be refined by more detailed information such as cultural influence, as well as a deeper historical investigation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Geography and sociolinguistics
    • 2.1The Russification of Daghestan
    • 2.2The Rutul area (Rutul’skij rajon)
    • 2.3The Tsezic area
  • 3.The wordlist
  • 4.The data
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Russian loanwords
    • 5.2Georgian loanwords
    • 5.3Azerbaijani loanwords
  • 6.The status of the donor languages
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (33)
References
Abdulatipov, R. G., Ageeva, R. A., Alekseev, M. E. et al. (Eds.). (2002). Jazyki narodov Rossii. Krasnaja kniga: ènciklopedičeskij slovar’-spravočnik [The languages of the peoples of Russia. The red book: An encyclopedic dictionary and guide]. Мoskva: Academia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bammatov, B. G., Gadzhiakhmedov, N. E. (2013). Kumyksko-russkij slovar’. IYaLI DNTs RAN. [Bammatov, B. G., Gadzhiakhmedov, N. E. (2013). Kumyk-Russian Dictionary. IYaLI DNTs RAN.]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, C. H. 1994. Lexical acculturation in Native American languages. Current Anthropology, 35, 95–117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cardillo, M., Bromham, L., & Greenhill, S. J. (2015). Links between language diversity and species richness can be confounded by spatial autocorrelation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1809): 20142986. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chechuro, I., Daniel, M., Dobrushina, N., & Verhees, S. (2019). Daghestanian loans database. Moscow: Linguistic Convergence Laboratory, HSE. Retrieved 28 June, 2019 from [URL]
Comrie, B., & Khalilov, M. (2009). Loanwords in Bezhta, a Nakh-Daghestanian language of the North Caucasus. In M. Haspelmath & U. Tadmor (Eds.), Loanwords in the world’s languages: A comparative handbook (pp. 414–429). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobrušina, N. R. (2011). Mnogojazyčie v Dagestane konca XIX – načala XX veka: popytka količestvennoj ocenki [Multilingualism in Daghestan in the end of 19th – The begining of 20th century: An attempt at a quantitative assesment]. Voprosy jazykoznanija, 4, 61–80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobrushina, N., Staferova, D., & Belokon, A. (Eds.). (2017). Atlas of multilingualism in Daghestan online. Moscow: Linguistic Convergence Laboratory, HSE. Retrieved on 28 November, 2018 from [URL]
Dobrushina, N., Kozhukhar, A., & Moroz, G. (2019). Gendered multilingualism in highland Daghestan: Story of a loss. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 40(2), 115–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Epps, P. (2018). Contrasting linguistic ecologies: Indigenous and colonially mediated language contact in northwest Amazonia. Language & Communication, 62, 156–169. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fatullaev, M. A. (2011). Strasti po didojcam [The Dido passion]. Nezavisimaja gazeta, 10 February, 2011. Retrieved on 27 February, 2011 from [URL]
Forkel, R., List, J. M., Greenhill, S., Rzymski, C., Bank, S., Cysouw, H., Haspelmath, M., & Kaiping, R. (2018). Cross-Linguistic Data Formats, advancing data sharing and re-use in comparative linguistics. Scientific Data, 5 (180205), 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forkel, R., & List, J. M. 2020. CLDFBench. Give your Cross-Linguistic data a lift. In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (pp. 6997–7004). European Language Resources Association (ELRA).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forker, D. (2019). The impact of language contact on Hinuq: Phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon. Language Typology and Universals, 72, 221–253. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gadžiev, V. G. (1967). Istorija Dagestana [The history of Daghestan]. Moskva: Nauka.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gal, S. (1978). Peasant men can’t get wives: Language change and sex roles in a bilingual community. Language in Society, 7(1), 1–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hammarström, H., Haspelmath, M., & Forkel, R. 2019. Glottolog. Version 4.1. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M., & Tadmor, U. (Eds.). (2009). Loanwords in the world’s languages: A comparative handbook. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heath, J. (1981). A case of intensive lexical diffusion: Arnhem Land, Australia. Language, 57, 335–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ismailova, È. I. (2011). Russko-rutul’skij slovar’ [Russian-Rutul dictionary]. Maxačkala: IJALI DNC RAN.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kankava, M. V. (2001). Gruzinsko-russkij slovar’ [Georgian-Russian dictionary]. Tbilisi: Sakartvelos macne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Karpov, Ju. Ju., & Kapustina, E. L. (2011). Gorcy posle gor. Migracionnye processy v Dagestane v XX – načale XXI veka: ix social’nye i ètnokul’turnye posledstvija i perspektivy [The mountain people after the mountains. Migration processes in Daghestan in the 20th – the beginning of the 21st Century: Their social and ethno-cultural consequences and perspectives]. Saint-Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khalilov, M. Š. (1999). Cezsko-russkij slovar’ [Tsezic-Russian dictionary]. Moskva: Academia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khalilov, M. Š. & Isakov, I. А. (2005). Ginuxsko-russkij slovar’ [Hinuq-Russian dictionary]. Maxačkala: DNC RAN.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
List, Johann-Mattis, Christoph Rzymski, Simon Greenhill, Nathanael Schweikhard, Kristina Pianykh, Annika Tjuka, Mei-Shin Wu, & Robert Forkel. 2020. Concepticon. A resource for the linking of concept lists (Version 2.3.0). Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S., Sankoff, D., & Miller, C. (1988). The social correlates and linguistic processes of lexical borrowing and assimilation. Linguistics, 26, 47–104. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scotton, C. M., & Okeju, J. (1973). Neighbors and lexical borrowings. Language, 49, 871–889. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stanford, J. N. (2010). The role of marriage in the linguistic contact and variation: Two Hmong dialects in Texas. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 14(1), 89–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tağiyev, M. T. (2006). Azerbaycanca-rusca lüğət [Azerbaijani-Russian dictionary (4 Vols)]. Dörd cilddi. Bakı: Şərq-Qərb.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Gijn, R., Hammarström, H., Van de Kerke, S., Krasnoukhova, O., & Muysken, P. (2017). Linguistic areas, linguistic convergence and river systems in South America. In R. Hickey (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of areal linguistics (pp. 964–996). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vserossijskaja perepis’ naselenija [The Russian Census]. (2010). Retrieved from [URL]
Weinreich, U. (1953). Languages in contact: Findings and problems. New York, NY: Linguistic Circle of New York.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Winford, D. (2013). Social factors in contact languages. In P. Bakker & Y. Matras (Eds.), Contact languages: A comprehensive guide (pp. 363–416). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue