Linguistics 681; Fall 2005

The goal of this seminar is to explore in some detail the methodological frameworks and theoretical issues that relate to the origins and development of various outcomes of language contact. The seminar is a follow-up to L685, 'Languages in Contact', and presupposes coverage of that course syllabus or some equivalent (for example a background in Historical Linguistics). The class will be conducted seminar-style, with students leading discussion of key publications on various instances of contact-induced change and mixture. The coverage will include cases of lexical and structural borrowing, convergence, code-switching, the creation of bilingual mixed languages, tutored and untutored second language acquisition, and pidgin and creole formation. One of the central concerns of the seminar will be to discover what all of these outcomes have in common, particularly with respect to the processes of change or restructuring involved, and the principles that guide them.

We will examine various frameworks that have been proposed for the analysis and classification of contact-induced changes, including van Coetsem's theory of transfer types in borrowing and imposition, Thomason & Kaufman's distinction between 'borrowing' and 'inteference under shift', as well as theories of "transfer" in second language acquisition and creole formation. Van Coetsem in particular offers a unified framework within which outcomes of contact can be classified and distinguished, and it will form the basis of our approach.

Emphasis will be placed on the empirical evidence required for testing various hypotheses, and students will be expected to explore specific case studies and data in some detail. Though the seminar will follow a central core of topics and issues, there will be a great deal of flexibility in the coverage of topics, so as to satisfy the varied interests of students. Students who are interested in any aspect of language contact are invited to attend.

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Linguistics 661.02; Fall 2004

This is a graduate-level introduction to the study of language in its social context. The course will focus primarily on quantitative sociolinguistics, and the frameworks and methods of analysis that sociolinguists working in this area have developed. We will discuss some of the major findings of sociolinguistic research on the nature of linguistic variation and its relation to language structure. The frameworks of analysis to be considered include the Labovian model and related approaches, as well as the implicational model.

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L/AA&AS 605; Summer 2004

The main focus of this course will be the varieties of English used by African-Americans in the United States, and the general relationship between language and socio-cultural organization in the African-American community. The course will also examine other varieties of Black English used in other New World communities such as the Caribbean, as well as in other areas of the Black Diaspora, with a view to exploring the similarities and relationships among these different types of English.

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Linguistics 661.01; Spring 2004

This is a graduate-level introduction to the study of language in its social context. The course will survey various approaches to this area of investigation, including the sociology of language, the ethnography of speaking, discourse analysis and quantitative sociolinguistics. We will consider the basic concepts and terminology used in all of these approaches and attempt to distinguish both the similarities and differences in their underlying assumptions, objectives, and methods of analysis.

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Linguistics 685; Fall 2003

This is a graduate-level introduction to the study of language contact and its outcomes, as well as the social and linguistic factors that regulate contact-induced changes. We will examine a wide range of language contact phenomena from both general linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives, and survey current approaches to all of the major types of contact-induced change. We will consider both the linguistic and social aspects of the contact situation and how they affect the outcomes, with special attention to the general processes and principles that are at work in all cases of language contact.

We can in general distinguish three broad kinds of contact situation: those involving language maintenance with varying degrees of bilingualism, those involving language shift or second language acquisition, and those that lead to the creation of new contact languages. However, there are many situations that cannot be classified so readily.

Some are characterized by interplay between maintenance and shift, while others involve types of interaction and mutual accommodation, which makes it difficult to place them in a single category. Similar difficulties arise in the case of the so-called "new" contact languages, pidgins, creoles, and bilingual mixed languages. How can we explain contact phenomena? What combinations of social and linguistic influences conspire to produce them? What kinds of situation promote one type of outcome rather than another?

We will attempt to answer questions like these in a unified empirical and theoretical framework within which both the outcomes and the processes and principles at work in each case can be identified and compared. We will also consider the various implications of the study of language contact for our understanding of practical issues such as language attrition and loss, second language acquisition, and bilingual language proficiency.

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