contact language
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2021 ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Isabella Tinkel ◽  
Marie Deissl-O’Meara

English has become a global lingua franca unlike any language before. This has led to the increased pragmatic use of English by an increasing number of non-native speakers and, consequently, English as a lingua franca (ELF) has emerged. It has become a contact language between speakers of different mother tongues which has led to the blurring of strict regulatory frameworks formerly established by native English varieties. ELF speakers use English in creative ways and influenced by their native languages and cultures and the imitation of the native speaker has been pushed to the background in favor of successful communication. In order to facilitate the examination of this new type of English, several ELF corpora have been established, two of which are used for this study. The Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English (VOICE) and the Asian Corpus of English (ACE) are both collections of spoken interactions between ELF speakers that have the same size and rely on the same coding system and search parameters, which make them readily comparable. While these corpora have already aided in the discovery of several common features of ELF in general, this study focuses on the lexico-grammatical feature of the pluralization of mass nouns by either adding the ‘s’ or some type of quantifier in European and Asian ELF. Results show that Asian ELF speakers are less likely to pluralize mass nouns than European ELF speakers. Yet, pluralization can be found in both types of ELF and this, along with other specific, non-standard features, raises questions for English language teaching and the status of native English.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147-176
Author(s):  
Xosé Luís Regueira
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  

This volume compares the evolution and current status of two of the world's major languages, English and Spanish. Parallel chapters trace the emergence of Global English and Spanish and their current status, covering aspects such as language and dialect contact, language typology, norm development in pluricentric languages, and identity construction. Case studies look into the use of English and Spanish on the internet, investigate mixed and alternating lects, as well as ongoing change in Spanish-speaking minorities in the US. The volume thus contributes to current theoretical debates and provides fresh empirical data. While offering an in-depth treatment of the evolution of English and Spanish to the reader, this book introduces the driving factors and the effects of the emergence of world languages in general and is relevant for researchers and students of sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and typology alike.


Author(s):  
Dorota Watkowska

English as a lingua franca (henceforth ELF) is a contact language that has attracted great attention due to its unique global role. Thus, numerous studies have been conducted to determine its characteristics, among which research on such processes as, for example, simplification, added prominence or redundancy underlying language use in the ELF context is of the main interest. Therefore, the paper aims to broaden the per- spective on redundancy in ELF, focusing on negative and modal concord in spoken and written data. With the reliance on VOICE, ELFA, and WrELFA corpora, the analysis shows that both phenomena are noticeable in ELF; however, while redundancy in terms of modal concord appears in spoken and written ELF, negative concord is characteristic only of spoken data.


2021 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Ewa Geller

The object of this paper is an attempt to describe the complex identity of the Yiddish language itself and its users. Poland and the Polish language have played a signifi cant role in both these aspects. Part one is a sociolinguistic overview of the history of crystallisation of Yiddish in the historical territory of Poland as the autonomous language of the national culture of Central and Eastern European Jews. Its fate after the Holocaust of European Jews is also described here. Part two is dedicated to problems with the genetic classifi cation of Yiddish due to the language-forming processes accompanying its development. Yiddish is classifi ed among mixed languages, since it came into existence as a result of Hebrew– Slavic–Germanic language contacts. Therefore, this part pays special attention to the explanation of the mixed nature of this language system and the role of Polish as an important contact language infl uencing the fi nal shape of the contemporary Yiddish language


Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Grace A. Gomashie

The study reports on adults’ linguistic use of Nahuatl in the bilingual community of Santiago Tlaxco, Mexico. Using a survey approach, adults were asked to indicate their language choices (i.e., Spanish, Nahuatl or both languages) when interacting with people in various linguistic domains including personal, public, occupational, and educational. Findings showed that Nahuatl was used predominately with family members, with the exception of children aged 12 and younger with whom bilingual use was the norm. Similarly, in the public domain, bilingual language use was preferred for interactions with young people (less than 18 years), indicating a trend toward a gradual displacement of Nahuatl. However, Nahuatl was still the preferred language for interactions in the occupational domain, in places of worship and within social circles. Spanish was preferred for the educational domain, at the clinic, and in unfamiliar settings, such as with strangers. While adult use of Nahuatl facilitates language maintenance, there is a need for increased intergenerational transmission. Results are discussed in the context of language planning.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeseung Jeong ◽  
Raquel Sánchez Ruiz ◽  
Georgia Wilhelmsson

English as a lingua franca, or ELF is a well-known concept referring to English used as a contact language among people from different linguistic backgrounds. ELF users are thus people using English as ELF. This study investigated the ELF user attitudes of pre-service teachers from Spain and Sweden, towards English and its users. From the convergences and divergences of their attitudes, it emerged that the ELF user attitudes of the two European student cohorts tended to be ambivalent, mixed, and self-contradictory. After discussing factors for participants’ attitudinal tendencies, we conclude that the ambivalence in their overall attitudes seem to mirror the ambivalence of the ‘double’ definitions of English in policy documents, which are largely incompatible in setting the goals of teaching and learning the language. We suggest that university teaching help pre-service teachers experience real-life use of English and critically engage with policy documents for future teaching practices.


Author(s):  
Caroline Hendy ◽  
Catherine Bow

Abstract Kriol, an English-lexifier contact language, has approximately 20,000 speakers across northern Australia. It is the primary language of the remote Aboriginal community of Ngukurr. Kriol is a contact language, incorporating features of English and traditional Indigenous languages. The language has been perceived both positively and negatively, although recent literature suggests a shift towards more favorable views. This paper investigates how community members in Ngukurr responded to the question of non-Indigenous residents (known locally as Munanga) learning Kriol. Interviews with local Indigenous residents showed positive attitudes to Kriol, with respondents providing a number of perceived benefits for outsiders learning the language. Our interviews provide empirical evidence for pride in the language, affirming a shift to more positive attitudes.


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