Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective

Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective
ISBN-10
9027252394
ISBN-13
9789027252395
Series
Contact Languages
Category
Language Arts & Disciplines
Pages
506
Language
English
Published
1997
Publisher
J. Benjamins Publishing Company
Author
Sarah Grey Thomason

Description

This book contributes to a more balanced view of the most dramatic results of language contact by presenting linguistic and historical sketches of lesser-known contact languages. The twelve case studies offer eloquent testimony against the still common view that all contact languages are pidgins and creoles with maximally simple and essentially identical grammars. They show that some contact languages are neither pidgins nor creoles, and that even pidgins and creoles can display considerable structural diversity and structural complexity; they also show that two-language contact situations can give rise to pidgins, especially when access to a target language is withheld by its speakers. The chapters are arranged according to language type: three focus on pidgins (Hiri Motu, by Tom Dutton; Pidgin Delaware, by Ives Goddard; and Ndyuka-Trio Pidgin, by George L. Huttar and Frank J. Velantie), two on creoles (Kituba, by Salikoko S. Mufwene, and Sango, by Helma Pasch), one on a set of pidgins and creoles (Arabic-based contact languages, by Jonathan Owens), one on the question of early pidginization and/or creolization in Swahili (by Derek Nurse), and five on bilingual mixed languages (Michif, by Peter Bakker and Robert A. Papen; Media Lengua and Callahuaya, both by Pieter Muysken; and Mednyj Aleut and Ma'a, both by Sarah Thomason). The authors' collective goal is to help offset the traditional emphasis, within contact-language studies, on pidgins and creoles that arose as an immediate result of contact with Europeans, starting in the Age of Exploration. The accumulation of case studies on a wide diversity of languages is needed to create a body of knowledge substantial enough to support robust generalizations about the nature and development of all types of contact language.

Other editions

Similar books

  • Verbs: Aspect and Causal Structure
    By William Croft

    A fourth type of phasal analysis is offered by Timberlake (1985). Timberlake assumes an interval temporal semantics like Woisetschlaeger, and focuses on ...

  • Linguistic Semantics
    By William Frawley

    In some languages, this elemental opposition surfaces directly, asin the Austronesian (Chamorro: Chung and Timberlake 1985; Bikol: Givón 1984) and certain ...

  • Communication Law
    By Dominic G Caristi, William R Davie, Michael Cavanaugh

    Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson were performing during the halftime show when a “wardrobe malfunction” exposed for a fraction of a second the singer's ...

  • Communication Law: Practical Applications in the Digital Age
    By William R Davie, Dom Caristi

    Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson were performing during the halftime show when a “wardrobe malfunction” exposed for a fraction of a second the singer's ...

  • The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World
    By Joan Bybee, Revere Perkins, William Pagliuca

    ... 70, 85,171,231 Thomson, Greg, xix Thomson, R. W, 231, 233 Timberlake, Alan, ... J. M., 225, 235 van Putte, E., 286, 294 Vermant, S., 61,62 Vincent, N., ...

  • The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English
    By Clive Upton, William A. Kretzschmar, Jr.

    ... 'timbol, –Z timber BR 'timble(r), -oz, -(e)rin, -od AM 'timblor, -orz, -(e)rin, ... -s Timberlake BR 'timboleik AM 'timbor,eik timberland BR 'timbaland, ...

  • Cross-Cultural and Intercultural Communication
    By William B. Gudykunst

    ... 237 St. George , R. , 38 Stilling , E. , 251 Stonequist , E. , 247 Stopka ... R. , 149 Tidwell , R. , 227 , 230 Timberlake , M. F. , 266 Ting - Toomey ...

  • The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers
    By Laura Oliver, M.F.A.

    ... line on Deck D. A baby squeals in the background cacophony ofthe airport. ... spirit in terms of matter, matter in terms ofspirit,” Robert Frost said.

  • Maintaining Long-Distance and Cross-Residential Relationships
    By Laura Stafford

    ... 30, 31, 32, 34 Durand, D., 49 Dwyer, J. W., 78 E Egan, J., 93 Eisenberg, ... 102 Floyd, K., 85, 89, 91 Forsyth, C. J., 41, 42, 48, 5.1 Frost-Knappman, ...

  • Emergent Literacy: Lessons for Success
    By Sonia Q. Cabell, Laura M. Justice, Joan Kaderavek

    Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 4, 331–342. Freedman, D. (2007). Scribble. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers. Frost, J. (2001).