Towards a Functional Theory of Language Contact

2020 ◽  
pp. 333-354
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Theory Of Language

[review of:] Vyacheslav Ivanov & Peter Arkadiev, eds. 2013. Studies in the Typology of Slavic, Baltic and Balkan Languages

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 221-239
Author(s):  
Ilja Seržant
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Primary Reference ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Vyacheslav Ivanov

Вячᴇᴄлᴀʙ Вᴄ. Иʙᴀнов (отв. ред.), Пᴇᴛᴘ М. Аᴘкᴀдьᴇв (сост.), Исследования по типологии славянских, балтийских и балканских языков (преимущественно в свете языковых контактов). Санкт-Петербург: Алетейя, 2013. / Vʏᴀᴄʜᴇsʟᴀv Ivᴀɴov & Pᴇᴛᴇʀ Aʀᴋᴀᴅɪᴇv, eds., Studies in the Typology of Slavic, Baltic and Balkan Languages (with primary reference to language contact). St Petersburg: Aletheia, 2013. ɪsʙɴ 978-5-91419-778-7. The main focus of the book is on various language contact situations as well as areal interpretations of particular phenomena against a wider typological background. The idea is to provide a broader overview of each phenomenon discussed, bringing in comparisons with the neighbouring languages. Two major linguistic areas are in the focus of the book: the Balkan and Eastern Circum-Baltic areas. The book is an important contribution to these fields as well as to areal typology and the theory of language contact in general, meeting all standards for a solid scientific work.

When the Construction Is Axla, Everything Is Axla: A Case of Combined Lexical and Structural Borrowing from Arabic to Hebrew

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 337-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roey J. Gafter ◽  
Uri Horesh
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Specific Contact ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Contact Situation

This article examines a borrowing from Arabic into Hebrew, which is a combination of a lexical borrowing and a structural one. The Arabic superlativeaħla‘sweetest, most beautiful,’ pronounced by most Modern Hebrew speakers [axla], has shifted semantically to mean ‘great, awesome.’ Yet, as our corpus-based study illustrates, it was borrowed into Hebrew—for the most part—with a very particular syntactic structure that, in Arabic, denotes the superlative. In Arabic itself,aħlamay also denote a comparative adjective, though in different syntactic structures. We discuss the significance of this borrowing and the manner in which it is borrowed both to the specific contact situation between Arabic and Hebrew and to the theory of language contact in general.

scholarly journals Surface Features of Code-switching in ‘The Nigerian Online Community’ Page on Facebook

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Layo Olaluwoye
Keyword(s):  
Online Community ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Functional Theory ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Surface Features ◽  
Surface Errors ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Theory Of Language

Existing studies on code-switching have mainly been carried out among English/Chinese bilinguals. Studies on English/Yoruba/Pidgin English bilinguals with emphasis on code-mixing and code-switching on the Internet have been grossly insufficient. Therefore, this study reveals the surface features of code-switching among Yoruba/English/Pidgin English bilinguals in the Nigerian Online Community on Facebook. For theoretical framework, we relied on insights from Halliday’s (1994) functional theory of language.  Five types of surface features were identified: simplified lexicon and sentences, non-adherence to the use of tones/diacritics, inconsistencies of spellings and words, unnecessary lengthening of letters, and tolerance of surface errors. The study has revealed the distinctive features of code-switching in the Nigerian Online Community page on Facebook. These linguistic features have thrown more light on the characteristics of the language use on the Facebook forum and how the posters use the codes in their speech repertoire to achieve this

scholarly journals Sobre la subordinación con "para + infinitivo" en español actual

2021 ◽  
pp. 95-113
Author(s):  
Enrique Pato
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Nominative Case ◽  
Verbal Mode ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Theory Of Language

This work describes a particular type of substantive clause: “para + infinitive”, where the infinitive has a [+posteriority] value and para is admitted as a subordinator. The work presents the relationships it share with final clauses and questions the relevance of the theory of language contact (Guaraní and Portuguese) as the only explanatory factor. To do this, it show that it is not an exclusive phenomenon of the variety of Paraguayan Spanish, nor of bilingual speakers, since it is registered in other areas (Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, but also Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina). It is proposed that some varieties tend to fix the synthetic subparameter (subordinate with subjunctive [+Flex]) and other varieties use the analytic one (subordinate with infinitive [-Flex]). In these cases, the infinitive is understood as a verbal mode, and para assigns nominative case or an optional mark.

Processes of semogenesis in English intonation

2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Tench
Keyword(s):  
Functional Theory ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Level Tone

Semogenesis, the creation of meaning, has been promoted by Halliday & Matthiessen (1999) as a ‘guiding principle’ in their presentation of a systemic functional theory of language — that language has within itself the resources by which people can create new meanings. Halliday & Matthiessen illustrated three processes of semogenesis and used an example of English intonation to illustrate one of the processes, deconstruction. This paper proposes two other processes, blending and reconstitution, to account for three other developments in English intonation: the falling-rising tone, the so-called high rising terminal/tone (HRT) and the mid level tone for routine listing.

scholarly journals What Motivates Morphological Copying?

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-407
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Frajzyngier
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
Theory Of Language

Based on the papers included in the reviewed volume, this article puts forward a number of questions that are important for the theory of language change under contact. While there exist reliable methodologies to determine whether a given form represents the effect of language contact or not, and a slightly less reliable methodologies to establish whether a given function is a product of language contact, there is a relative paucity of studies discussing the motivation for language change under contact with respect to the functions encoded in the language.

Relatedness as a Factor in Language Contact

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Bowern
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Dialect Contact ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Contact Models ◽  
Theory Of Language

Contact-induced change among related languages has been considered problematic for language reconstruction. In this article, I consider several aspects of the theory of language change and ways in which contact might interact with language relatedness. I show that models of language change which extrapolate dialect-contact models to languages and subgroups are problematic, and fail to take into account the unevenness of degrees of difference between languages across families. That is, diffusability clines that apply to speech communities and dialects do not appear to be in evidence for languages and subgroups. I further show that many claims about relatedness as a factor in language contact are confounded by other factors that are distinct from language relatedness, such as geographical proximity. Claims about effects of language contact appear to reduce to the type of interaction that speakers participate in, rather than structural facts about their languages. I argue that our current toolkit for reconstruction is adequate to identify contact features. Finally, I provide a typology of cases where contact might be expected to be problematic for subgrouping.

Code-Switching as a Reflection of Contact-Induced Change

2020 ◽  
pp. 192-214
Author(s):  
Ad Backus
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
The Other ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Language Mixing ◽  
Lexical Change ◽  
Theory Of Language

Code-switching is often studied in purely synchronic terms, as recorded speech is analyzed for patterns of language mixing. Though this has yielded numerous useful theoretical advances, it has also shielded the code-switching literature from serious engagement with the phenomenon of language change, even from the subtype of change caused by language contact. There is also the additional practice of limiting the study of code-mixing and code-switching to lexical mixing. On the other side of the fence, meanwhile, discussions of contact-induced language change tend to be limited to morphological and syntactic phenomena. This chapter breaks through this stalemate, and argues that a usage-based approach to language change actually demands integration of these perspectives. Code-switching should be seen as a reflection of lexical change. It is for this reason that a synchronic distinction between loanwords and code-switching makes no sense, since the terms refer to the diachronic and synchronic planes, respectively, of the same phenomenon. In the chapter, the author interprets the code-switching literature from this theoretical viewpoint, and explores what both the literature on code-switching and that on contact-induced change stand to gain from linking their empirical findings to a usage-based theory of language change that allocates proper attention to synchrony and diachrony, and unites lexical and structural change in the same framework.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana Poplack
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Actual Production ◽  
Language Mixing ◽  
Theory Of Language

Analysis of language mixing in the actual production data of bilingual individuals has permitted us to test and overturn many long-standing assumptions about borrowing and code-switching empirically: borrowing is not monolithic but takes many forms in the speech community; it does not originate as code-switching; integration is not gradual but abrupt; speakers tend not to code-switch individual words but to borrow them. This work has also confirmed that code-switching and borrowing are diametrically opposed, not only structurally but from the perspective of the individuals who engage in them. The observable differences between multiword code-switches and lone other-language items, coupled with the overwhelming preponderance of the latter in every bilingual dataset that has been quantitatively analyzed, together demonstrate that any model of language mixing with pretensions to constituting a “unified” theory of language contact phenomena is in fact a theory of lexical borrowing.

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