Language contact

Yaron Matras
Table of contents

Language contact is the interplay of two or more linguistic systems. Research into language contact examines the potential consequences of this interplay in usage patterns as well as in the structure of language. Since contact involves factors that are external to the linguistic system (in the canonical understanding of ‘system’), language contact had initially been associated primarily with sociolinguistic research agendas. Since the late 1970’s however there has been growing interest in language contact also in psycholinguistics, historical linguistics, and linguistic typology. Societal and individual aspects of language contact – those having to do with choices that speakers make among linguistic repertoires – are often discussed under the headings ‘bilingualism’ or ‘multilingualism’.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Albert, M.L. & L.K. Obler
1978 The bilingual brain. Neuropsychological and neurolinguistic aspects of bilingualism. Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, P.
1984 Bilingual conversation. John Benjamins.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakker, P.
1997 A language of our own: the genesis of Michif, the mixed Cree-French language. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakker, P. & Y. Matras
(eds.) 2003 The mixed language debate. Mouton de Gruyter.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakker, P. & M. Mous
(eds.) 1994 Mixed languages. 15 case studies in language intertwining. IFOTT.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bickerton, D.
1981 Roots of language. Karoma.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolonyai, A.
1998 In-between languages: language shift/maintenance in childhood bilingualism. International Journal of Bilingualism 2: 21–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, L.
1993 On proposed universals of grammatical borrowing. In H. Aertsen & R.J. Jeffers (eds.) Historical linguistics 1989: 91–109. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clyne, M.
1967 Transferance and triggering. Nijhoff.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, B., M. Dryer, D. Gil & M. Haspelmath
(eds.) forthcoming World atlas of the linguistic structures
Crystal, D.
2000 Language death. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dawkins, R.M.
1916 Modern Greek in Asia Minor. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Disciullo, A.-M., P. Muysken & R. Singh
1986 Code-mixing and government. Journal of Linguistics 22: 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dorian, N.
1981 Language death. The life cycle of a Scottish Gaelic dialect. University of Pennsylvania Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ervin, S. & C. Osgood
1954 Second language learning and bilingualism. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology Supplement 49: 139–146.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fishman, J.
1965 Who speaks what language to whom and when. La linguistique 2: 67–88.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1967 Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues 23: 29–38.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gal, S.
1979 Language shift. Social determinants of linguistic change in bilingual Austria. Academic Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardner-Chloros, P.
1991 Language selection and switching in Strasbourg. Clarendon.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, J.
1982 Discourse strategies. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, A. & L. Campbell
1995 Historical syntax in cross-linguistic perspective. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haugen, E.
1950 The analysis of linguistic borrowing. Language 26: 210–231. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holm, J.
2000 An introduction to pidgins and creoles. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jake, J.
1998 Constructing interlanguage: building a composite matrix language. Linguistics 36: 333–382.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joseph, B.
1983 The synchrony and diachrony of the Balkan infinitive. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lanza, E.
1997 Language mixing in infant bilingualism: A sociolinguistic perspective. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lehiste, I.
1988 Lectures on language contact. MIT Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maschler, Y.
1994 Metalanguaging and discourse markers in bilingual conversation. Language in Society 23: 325–366.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masica, C.
1976 Defining a linguistic area: South Asia. Chicago University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001 The definition and significance of linguistic areas. In P. Bhaskararao & K. Subbarao (eds.) The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics 2001: 205–268. Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matras, Y.
1998 Utterance modifiers and universals of grammatical borrowing. Linguistics 36: 281–331.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1999 The state of present-day Domari in Jerusalem. Mediterranean Language Review 11: 1–58.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2003 Romani: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2004 Re-examining the structural prototype in mixed languages. In P. Bakker & Y. Matras (eds.).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mcwhorter, J.
1998 Identifying the Creole prototype: Vindicating a typological class. Language 74: 788–818. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001 The world’s simplest grammars are creole grammars. Linguistic Typology 5: 125–166.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meeuwis, M. & J. Blommaert
1998 A monolectal view of code-switching. Layered code-switching among Zairians in Belgium. In P. Auer (ed.) Code-switching in conversation. Languages, interaction and identity: 76–98. Routledge.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meisel, J.M.
1989 Early differentiation of languages in bilingual children. In K. Hyltenstam & L. Obler (edss) Bilingualism across the lifespan. Acquisition, maturity and loss: 13–40. Cambridge University Pressambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moravcsik, E.
1978 Universals of language contact. In J. Greenberg (ed.) Universals of human language: 94–122. Stanford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muysken, P.
2000 Bilingual speech. Cambridge University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, C.
1993a Social motivations for codeswitching: evidence from Africa. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1993b Duelling languages: grammatical structure in codeswitching. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, C. & J. Jake
2000 Four types of morpheme: evidence from aphasia, code switching, and second language acquisition. Linguistics 38: 1053–1100. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nelde, P.H.
(ed.) 1980 Languages in contact and in conflict. Steiner. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paradis, M.
(ed.) 1987 The assessment of bilingual aphasia. Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S.
1980 Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español: toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics 18: 581–618. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S., D. Sankoff & C. Miller
1988 The social correlates and linguistic processes of lexical borrowing and assimilation. Linguistics 26: 47–104. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ross, M.
1996 Contact-induced change and the comparative method. In M. Durie & M. Ross (eds.) The comparative method reviewed: 180–217. Oxford University Pressxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salmons, J.
1990 Bilingual discourse marking: code switching, borrowing, and convergence in some German-American dialects. Linguistics 28: 453–480.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C.
1994 Language contact and change. Clarendon Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stolz, C. & T. Stolz
1996 Funktionswortentlehnung in Mesoamerika. Spanisch-amerindischer Sprachkontakt (Hispanoindiana II). Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 49 : 86–123.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomason, S.G.
1997 A typology of contact languages. In A. Spears & W. Donald (eds.) The structure and status of pidgins and creoles: 71–88. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001 Language contact. An introduction. Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed.) 1997 Contact languages: a wider perspective. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomason, S.G. & T. Kaufman
1988 Language contact, creolization and genetic linguistics. University of California Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Volterra, V. & T. Taeschner
1978 The acquisition and development of language by bilingual children. Journal of Child Language 5: 311–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weinreich, U.
1953 Languages in contact. Mouton.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
 
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue