685 Languages in Contact U G 5
Prereq: 601
Study of the effects of language contact on the structure of the involved languages, of the characteristics of the individuals and communities involved in language contact, and the ways these may relate to the nature of the outcome of the contact.
This course will investigate a variety of language contact situations and the ways in which varying degrees of intensity of contact lead to differing degrees of interference between linguistic systems. Attention will be paid to the role of the social context in determining the nature and degree of contact-induced change. The course will work toward a framework for investigating most types of
contact-induced change from simple lexical borrowing to heavy structured interference, to extreme forms of language mixture leading to pidginization and creolization.
Requirements will include in-class discussions of assigned readings, longer written assignments, and at least one examination.
Some of the topics to be treated in the course are: language contact as a cause for linguistic change (loan words, phonological and other structural change); typologies of language contact (substratum, Sprachbund); bilingualism in the individual and the bilingual community (social dialects, diglossia); the emergence of new languages through contact (regional versions of standard
languages, pidgins and creoles).
Offered 2007-2008:
Offered 2008-2009 (projected):
Last modified 2006-08-02
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