scholarly journals SPACE DISCOURSE IN A LANGUAGE CONTACT SITUATION: “US” VS. “THEM”

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-632
Author(s):  
Alessandra Dezi ◽  
Elizaveta Kostandi
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Spatial Awareness ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Surrounding Space ◽  
Tv Shows ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Definition Of

Multilingual practices inevitably lead to language contact phenomena. This phenomenon occurs in Estonia, where the Russian speaking minority, often defined as a Russian diaspora, differs from the socially and linguistically dominant Estonian group with respect to their language and language practices. We suggest that the analysis of one of the languages in contact, in this case Russian, allows for a deeper understanding of the role of the other, i.e. Estonian, in the multilingual practices of the Estonian population as a whole. In this paper, we will focus on “spatial indicators” (i.e. toponyms, ergonyms, linguistic landscape objects, etc.) in the discourse on space provided by participants from the Russian-speaking population living in Estonia. These sociolinguistic foci have been partially described in several existing works which underscore the influence of Estonian on the speech of the local Russian speakers. Previous research gives insights into the peculiarities that the influence of Estonian generates: in the use of toponyms, in the naming of different language landscape objects, in the everyday language practices, and in the description and evaluation of the surrounding space (i.e. in the “spatial awareness”) of the local Russian speaking population. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that the aforementioned phenomena represent a whole that reflects the development of the speakers’ apprehension of the surrounding physical, sociocultural and sociolinguistic space. This process is put into focus in this paper and is shown to be characterized by the (re)definition of space(s) as “ours” vs “theirs”. Such processes will be revealed here by giving an overview of the “spatial components” in the speech of the Russian speaking population of Estonia in several spheres of communication (newspapers, TV shows, advertisements, web forums, etc.) and by analysing interviews involving three Estonian residents, each with a different sociolinguistic background. We attempt to demonstrate how these “spatial components” reflect the interaction of Russian and Estonian speakers, with an emphasis on their affinities across certain language practices. In the analysis of the interviews, we focus in particular on the participants’ (re)definitions of “us” vs “them” in their discourse on space. Special attention is also given to the use of Estonian insertions as a tool for evaluation and the creation of the opposition between “us” and “them” in the internet communication of Russian speakers living in Estonia.

English loanwords in the Serbo-Croatian immigrant press

1966 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-63
Author(s):  
Milan I. Surducki
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Weekly Newspapers ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Secondary Phenomenon ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Immigrant Language

I propose to present here the findings of an analysis of a limited corpus of English loanwords as found in four Canadian weekly newspapers published in the Serbo-Croatian language. Though interference in written language is a secondary phenomenon in a situation of languages in contact, instances of such interference are interesting and important since they may contribute to the adoption and spread of the corresponding instances of interference in spoken language. In addition, kinds of interference, as well as the total amount of interference in an immigrant language contact situation, may be usefully compared with interference phenomena in the corresponding standard language (in which very often, as is the case with E and SC in contact, almost all borrowing is done from a written model language). The linguistic analysis of the interference in written language seems therefore to be worth while.

Introduction: Convergence as an emergent property in bilingual speech

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARBARA E. BULLOCK ◽  
ALMEIDA JACQUELINE TORIBIO
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Emergent Property ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Technical Term ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Language And Cognition ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Definition Of

In introducing this special issue of Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, we feel it is critical to clarify what we understand ‘linguistic convergence’ to mean in the context of bilingualism, since ‘convergence’ is a technical term more readily associated with the field of language contact than with the field of bilingualism (for recent discussions of the role of convergence in contact see Thomason and Kaufman, 1988; Thomason, 2001; Myers-Scotton, 2002; Clyne, 2003; Winford, 2003). Within the language contact literature, the term invites a variety of uses. Some researchers adopt a definition of convergence that requires that all languages in a contact situation change, sometimes to the extent that the source of a given linguistic feature cannot be determined (see April McMahon's commentary in this issue). For others, convergence may be more broadly defined to also apply to situations in which one language has undergone structural incursions of various sorts from contact with another.

scholarly journals "Fluent dysfluency" as Congruent Lexicalization: A Special Case of Radical Code-Mixing

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lipski
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Languages In Contact ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Componential Analysis ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Level ◽  
Special Case

AbstractCode-switching among bilinguals has been typologically classified into three categories e.g. by Muysken (2000): alternation, insertion, and congruent lexicalization. Congruent lexicalization as usually defined not only requires that the languages in contact be structurally congruent, but also presupposes a high level of bilingual competence, as well relatively equal prestige and no tradition of overt language separation. The present study presents data from several communities in which Spanish is in contact with languages increasingly less cognate: Portuguese, Italian, and English, respectively. The data are drawn from "fluently dysfluent" speakers, meaning that they use their L2 frequently and speak it without hesitation, but with much involuntary intrusion of their L1; these dysfluent bilinguals rely on their interlocutors' passive competence in the speakers' L1, and in so doing exhibit code-switching which fits the typological pattern of congruent lexicalization. A componential analysis of several dysfluent bilingual communities results in the suggestion that the definition of congruent lexicalization be expanded to include the special case of fluently dysfluent bilingualism, a situation that arises in several language contact environments.

Modern Greek V V dvandva compounds: A linguistic innovation in the history of the Indo-European languages

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Ralli
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Compound Formation ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
European Languages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Internal Change ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Asian Languages

This paper deals with [V V] dvandva compounds, which are frequently used in East and Southeast Asian languages but also in Greek and its dialects: Greek is in this respect uncommon among Indo-European languages. It examines the appearance of this type of compounding in Greek by tracing its development in the late Medieval period, and detects a high rate of productivity in most Modern Greek dialects. It argues that the emergence of the [V V] dvandva pattern is not due to areal pressure or to a language-contact situation, but it is induced by a language internal change. It associates this change with the rise of productivity of compounding in general, and the expansion of verbal compounds in particular. It also suggests that the change contributes to making the compound-formation patterns of the language more uniform and systematic. Claims and proposals are illustrated with data from Standard Modern Greek and its dialects. It is shown that dialectal evidence is crucial for the study of the rise and productivity of [V V] dvandva compounds, since changes are not usually portrayed in the standard language.

Talking about MOTION in Middle English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Analysis Of Motion

Chapter 6 begins with an overview of the language contact situation with (Anglo-) French and Latin, resulting in large-scale borrowing in the Middle English period. The analysis of 465 Middle English verbs used to express intransitive motion shows that there are far more French/Latin loans in the path verbs than in the other motion verbs. The range of (new) manner of motion verbs testifies to the manner salience of Middle English: caused motion verbs are also found in intransitive motion meanings, as are French loans which do not have motion uses in continental French. Their motion uses in Anglo-Norman are discussed in terms of contact influence of Middle English. The analysis of motion expression in different texts yields a picture similar to the situation in Old English, with path typically expressed in satellites, and neutral as well as manner of motion verbs being most frequent, depending on text type.

Forty years of language contact and change in Kupwar: A critical assessment of the intertranslatability model

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonal Kulkarni-Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Original Study ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Border Town ◽  
Data Point ◽  
State Boundaries ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Local Languages

AbstractThis paper revisits the language contact situation in the Indian border town-village of Kupwar originally reported by Gumperz and Wilson (1971. Convergence and creolization: A case from the Indo-Aryan/Dravidian border. In D. Hymes (ed.), Pidgnization and creolization of languages, 151–168. Cambridge: CUP). The study presents evidence for morpho-syntactic variation and complexification in the contact varieties of the local languages, Marathi and Kannada. Similar patterns of variation are adduced from contact varieties of Marathi and Kannada from historical data as well as present-day border villages which, like Kupwar, have been traditionally bilingual. The synchronic and historical data point out methodological and theoretical limitations of the original study. The variation and complexity observed in the Kupwar varieties allow for a reconsideration of the notion of intertranslatability or isomorphism in convergence areas. While suggesting a possible geographically defined micro-linguistic area at the Marathi-Kannada frontier, the paper indicates that the recent re-drawing of state boundaries along linguistic lines may have initiated divergence in this convergence area.

scholarly journals La dimension pragmatico-discursive du français en contact

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Drescher
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
African Country ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Local Contact ◽  
Medical Issues ◽  
Mitigation Technique

The aim of this paper is two-fold : First it argues for a stronger consideration of the pragmatic and discourse level in research on language contact. Secondly it contributes to the pragmatics of a specific regional variety of French, namely Cameroonian French. Starting with a picture of the complex linguistic landscape of this multilingual African country, the paper stresses the importance of the pragmatic and discourse level by raising some of the crucial theoretical and methodological issues that a broader, usage-based view on language contact has to cope with. First it suggests that pragmatic and discourse conventions may be influenced by the local contact languages and secondly it emphasizes that they may not be specific to a language, but be shared by a much larger and encompassing community of discourse. A case study of Cameroonian radio phone-ins where callers seek advice on medical issues points out some of these conventions. Here the participants establish a specific participation framework that avoids direct interaction between caller and expert while the host is set in as a mediator. This global mitigation technique then allows for quite direct realisations of the advice at a local level.

scholarly journals Overcoming Aggressive Monolingualism: Prejudices and Linguistic Diversity in Russian Megalopolises

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 672-689
Author(s):  
Vlada Baranova ◽  
Kapitolina Fedorova
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Labor Migrants ◽  
Russian Speakers ◽  
Multilingual Communication ◽  
The One ◽  
Everyday Reality

AbstractThe study deals with linguistic prejudices of citizens of the two main Russian cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, toward speakers of foreign languages. It aims to reveal possible recent changes in the language ideology dominating Russian society. Monolingual and linguistically normative orientations rooted in the Soviet ideological approach are being challenged nowadays by global processes of migration and cultural diversification, which influence the everyday reality of Russian megalopolises. The research is based on the analysis of two sets of data: (1) meta-discourse on language attitudes derived from interviews with labor migrants and native Russian speakers in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and posts and comments on issues of language, migration, and linguistic landscapes, collected from websites and social media and (2) linguistic landscape data collected in 2016–2019, mainly in St. Petersburg, which reflect recent changes in attitude toward linguistic diversity in public space. These data show, on the one hand, that most city dwellers still relate to monolingual speech norms and try to implement control over public space; on the other hand, that the tolerance toward multilingual communication has been increasing over the years. The study suggests that these “first cracks” in monolinguals facades of Russian cities could eventually lead to the establishing of a less rigid language regime.

scholarly journals Montenegrin-Albanian Linguistic Border: In Search of “Balanced Language Contact”

Slovene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria S. Morozova ◽  
Alexander Yu. Rusakov
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
The Past ◽  
External Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Linguistic Behavior ◽  
The Village

The article aims to clarify the notion of “balanced language contact” and to model the situation of a language contact (in the present and the past) in one of the ethnically and linguistically mixed regions of the Montenegrin-Albanian linguistic border. The study focuses on the situation in the bilingual community of thevillageofVelja Gorana, located in the area of Mrkovići inSouthern Montenegro. The community of the village, as it seems at a first glance, provides a good example of a “balanced contact” situation. The language situation in Velja Gorana is described in the article as a set of micro-situations, or scenarios, developing on family and individual levels. Attention is paid not only to the communication in the family domain, but also to the external relations of the community members. Following on from this material, the authors attempt to develop a methodology for assessing the role of both languages in such communities in general, showing which factors influence individual linguistic behavior; how this behavior may change during an individual lifetime; how the different speakers’ strategies amalgamate in what can be considered as behavior of a multilingual speech community. Analyzing the information on the history of Velia Gorana, in particular, conducting a detailed examination of the origins, genealogies and marriage strategies of its families, allows the authors to reconstruct the mechanisms for the development of “linguistic exogamy” in the community of Velja Gorana and to make assumptions about the nature of the contact situation in this region in the past.

scholarly journals Contact-induced grammatical (non)changes? Observations of morphosyntactic structures in the Kashubian dialect in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-29
Author(s):  
Motoki Nomachi
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
New Phenomena

This article considers the context of language contact and discusses four typologically relevant morphosyntactic features (definite and indefinite articles, the merger of instrumental and comitative cases, and the non-pro-drop tendency) and their possible changes in the Kashubian dialect in Canada. A comparison of the data on the Kashubian dialect recorded in Prussia during the mid-19th century by Hilferding and in the present-day by the author in the Renfrew area (Ontario, Canada) revealed no significant difference, even though the Kashubian spoken in the area has undergone various innovations due to the influence of English. Both grammatical and sociolinguistic analyses of the history of the contact situation suggested that the conservativeness of grammatical changes in the dialect can be explained by the prolonged isolation of the speakers in their new homeland, and by the fact that the intensive language contact and collective bilingualism between Kashubian and English are relatively new phenomena.

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