Language contact / Sarah G. Thomason.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomason, Sarah Grey, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comparative linguistics.

Interference (Linguistics).

Languages in contact.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 pages)

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2001]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748607198);What happens to different peoples and to their languages when they come into contact?Language contact is everywhere: many nations have more than one official language, and quite possibly most people in the world speak two or more languages. What happens to different peoples and to their languages when they come into contact?In this survey of the social, political and linguistic consequences of language contact, Sarah G. Thomason focuses on what happens to the languages themselves - sometimes nothing, sometimes new words enter a language, sometimes new sounds and sentence structures will spread across many languages in a large geographical region; more rarely, entirely new languages arise in a contact situation. Conversely, one of the languages in contact may vanish entirely, and issues of language endangerment and death are explored here, together with chapters on multilingualism, pidgins and creoles, mechanisms of interference and the origins and results of contact-induced language change.Accessibly written by a leading expert in the field, this book is an ideal introduction for beginning students at all levels, and a useful resource for postgraduates, teachers and academic linguists.Key FeaturesAccessibly written by a leading figure in the fieldSources and further reading provided for each chapterWorld map showing the location of the languages discussed"

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1 Introduction

2 Contact Onsets and Stability

3 Multilingualism in Nations and Individuals

4 Contact-Induced Language Change: Results

5 Linguistic Areas

6 Contact-Induced Language Change: Mechanisms

7 Contact Languages I: Pidgins and Creoles

8 Contact Languages II: Other Mixed Languages

9 Language Death

10 Endangered Languages

Appendix 1: A Map of Some Contact Situations Around the World

Appendix 2: Official Language in the World's Nations

Glossary

References

Language index

Name index

Subject index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781474473125

1474473121

9780585443386

0585443386