Intonation and Prosody in Creole Languages: An Evolving Ecology

Research on the prosody and intonation of creole languages has largely remained an untapped resource, yet it is important for enriching our understanding of how or if their phonological systems changed or developed under contact. Further, their hybrid histories and current linguistic ecologies present descriptive and analytical treasure troves. This has the potential to inform many areas of linguistic inquiry including contact effects on the typological classification of prosodic systems, socioprosodic variation (individual and community level), and the scope of diversity in prosodic systems among creole languages and across a variety of languages similarly influenced by language contact. Thus, this review highlights the importance of pushing beyond questions of creole language typology and genetic affiliation. I review the existing research on creole language prosody and intonation, provide some details on a few studies, and highlight some key challenges and opportunities for the subfield and for linguistics in general.

Language politics in Nepal: a socio-historical overview

This paper aims to outline the language politics in Nepal by focusing on the influences and expansions shifted from Global North to the Global South. Based on a small-scale case study of interviews and various political movements and legislative documents, this paper discusses linguistic diversity and multilingualism, globalization, and their impacts on Nepal’s linguistic landscapes. It finds that the language politics in Nepal has been shifted and changed throughout history because of different governmental and political changes. Different ideas have been emerged because of globalization and neoliberal impacts which are responsible for language contact, shift, and change in Nepalese society. It concludes that the diversified politics and multilingualism in Nepal have been functioning as a double-edged sword which on the one hand promotes and preserves linguistic and cultural diversity, and on the other hand squeeze the size of diversity by vitalizing the Nepali and English languages through contact and globalization.

Language Contact Between Lithuanian and Polish in the Historical Anthroponymy of Kėdainiai Town of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Language Contact Between Lithuanian and Polish in the Historical Anthroponymy of Kėdainiai Town of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth CenturiesThis article presents Lithuanian naming trends specific to residents of Kėdainiai in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, underlining characteristic cases of Polonisation of their personal names and the most significant factors that affected the recording of anthroponyms in town books. Historical records from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (24 Kėdainiai register books from 1623–1799) were used to extract 505 cases of names of Kėdainiai residents. For comparison, the study also considers examples from the 1752–1799 register of christenings kept by St George’s Church of Kėdainiai Parish. The sources under consideration mostly relied on the binary nomination model (using a name and a surname or a personal name that performed the function of the latter), where the first component was a Christian name written in Polish or Latin. In seventeenth-century records, surnames were Polonised: obvious cases of phonetic alterations were noted, some surnames had no endings, some Lithuanian patronymic and diminutive suffixes were replaced with Slavic suffixes, and Slavic patronymic suffixes -evič, -ovič were added to names without suffixes. However, the Slavicisation of anthroponyms particular to Kėdainiai residents in the seventeenth century was not very intense due to extralinguistic and historical circumstances. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the town of Kėdainiai was a Reformist centre of Lithuanianness, and the Lithuanian language was used in the public life of the town. This element of Lithuanianness can also be noticed in the analysed historical sources. Anthroponyms were mostly Polonised in Kėdainiai register books from the eighteenth century. Slavic patronymic suffixes -evič, -ovič were predominant in this period. Litewsko-polskie kontakty językowe w historycznej antroponimii siedemnasto- i osiemnastowiecznych KiejdanNiniejszy artykuł omawia litewskie tendencje antroponimiczne charakterystyczne dla mieszkańców Kiejdan w XVII i XVIII wieku, podkreślając charakterystyczne przypadki polonizacji oraz najistotniejsze czynniki, które wpłynęły na zapis antroponimów w księgach miejskich. Z siedemnasto- i osiemnastowiecznych zapisów (24 księgi miejskie z lat 1623–1799) wyekstrahowano 505 przypadków nazwisk mieszkańców Kiejdan. Dla porównania, w opracowaniu uwzględniono również przykłady z księgi chrztów z lat 1752–1799, prowadzonej przez kościół parafialny św. Jerzego w Kiejdanach. W omawianych zapisach źródłowych stosowano głównie antroponimy o modelu dwuczłonowym (użycie imienia i nazwiska lub imienia, które pełniło funkcję nazwiska), gdzie pierwszym elementem było imię chrzestne zapisywane po polsku lub po łacinie. W zapisach siedemnastowiecznych nazwiska polonizowano: odnotowano oczywiste przypadki zmian fonetycznych, niektóre nazwiska nie miały końcówek, niektóre litewskie przyrostki patronimiczne i deminutywne zastępowano przyrostkami słowiańskimi, słowiańskie przyrostki patronimiczne -ewicz, -owicz dodawano do nazwisk, które nie miały przyrostków. Mimo że slawizacja antroponimów była charakterystyczna dla Kiejdan w XVII wieku, nie była jednak szczególnie intensywna ze względu na uwarunkowania pozajęzykowe i historyczne. Kiejdany były ośrodkiem reformacji i litewskości, który posługiwał się językiem litewskim w życiu publicznym miasta. Ten element litewskości można również dostrzec w analizowanych źródłach historycznych. W księgach kiejdańskich z XVIII wieku antroponimy występują przeważnie w formach spolszczonych. W tym okresie dominowały słowiańskie przyrostki patronimiczne -ewicz, -owicz.

ZHÂHIRAH AL-MAZJI AL-LUGHAWÎ FÎ MUJTAMA’ DZAWÎ AL-USHÛL AL-‘ARABIYAH FÎ INDONESIA: KUNHAHÂ WA MABNÂHÂ WA DALÂLATUHÂ

This article aims to discuss the phenomenon of code blending in society of Arab descent in Indonesia. By using ethnographic research methods, samples of data collected through direct personal interviews was analyzed. The results of the data analysis show that the phenomenon of code blending is rife in their conversations, something that is clearly visible in the mixing of Arabic with Indonesian. So that, they replace nouns with verbs, plural words with singular words, standard words with non-standard, and use the inflection Arabic for Indonesian and vice versa, so that the form and structure of the two languages are changed. This study also shows that this phenomenon is caused by a lack of mastery of Arabic and Indonesian by speakers, continuous communication in this way between families, because parents pass on Arabic and Indonesian vocabulary to their children and do not pass on their forms and structure of the sentence, or there is always the occurrence language contact in various situations such as schools and workplaces.

Using the Phonological Approach to Describe the Vocal System of the Russian Language in the Context of Russian-Spanish Language Contact

The article is devoted to the description of the vocal systems of different languages, considering the functional approach, based on the objective linguistic reality. Today the traditional approach used by research scientists is gradually losing the ability to identify effective models of the phonetic-phonological system of the language, which significantly affects the productivity and research results. The rapid development of new directions of science, the evolution of the language system and all its sublevels indicates the need to adjust the traditional principles of describing phonetic-phonological systems of different languages and imposes special requirements on the relevance, productivity, adequacy and compliance of such descriptions with objective reality. The article analyzes the system of vowels from a phonological point of view - a general classification of vowels through the prism of phonological systematics of meaningful oppositions - considering the articulatory base of the language and the modern orthoepic norm, their changes in the flow of speech, an inextricable connection with consonantism and the prosodic organization of the word. This system is more productive and relevant for solving the problems of modern linguistics. The approbation of the vocal system of the Russian language, obtained within the framework of the corrected approach to the description of systems, is carried out in conditions of language contact, since the problems of language contact are interconnected with the main tasks of the theory of language in the framework of the comparative historical description and comparison of languages. Phonetic interference, together with a foreign accent, is a consequence of the contact between the native language and the target language. Phonetic interference, being an integral part of linguistic contact, causes a violation of the sound side of the language of foreigners. After analyzing the descriptions of the vocal systems of the Spanish and Russian languages, made within the framework of the adjusted functional approach, it is possible to highlight the main features of the Spanish accent in the pronunciation of Russian vowel sounds, and the analysis of the practical material confirms all the selected features and demonstrates the high efficiency of the above approach. The results of this work can be used in various theoretical courses, as well as to create systems for automatic synthesis and speech recognition.

SOCIOLINGUISTIC REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING LINGUISTIC CHARCTERISTICS OF UKRAINIAN, RUSSIAN AND SURZHYK IN UKRAINIAN MEDIA DISCOURSE

This article examines the widespread social perception of the linguistic characteristics of Ukrainian, Russian languages and Surzhyk, which is commonly known as a mixed language of the two. The aim of this article is to establish a common interpretation of their forms and uses from a sociolinguistic perspective to clarify their perceived valuation in the situation of language contact. We rely especially on the theories of sociolinguistic representations and language majoration and minoration, elaborated in the French sociolinguistics, which allows us to have a clear view of the dynamic system within the multilingual communities. This study gives a detailed analysis of journalistic articles dedicated to language issues in Ukraine published on the internet, for gaining a broad and topical sets of data. Our results show that there exists a complex relation between the mixed language and the two languages, where on the one hand Surzhyk is interpretated to be constructed from the Ukrainian and Russian languages, while on the other hand, the illiterateness of its speakers is emphasized. Furthermore, we see that speaking Surzhyk could in fact be more negatively perceived than speaking Russian, since it has the potential to pose a threat to the existence of the Ukrainian language.

Historiography of Arabic influences on Mozarabic: theory and history (711–1492)

The present research focuses on the historiographic aspect of Arabic influence on Mozarabic between 711 and 1492. Among the goals of the present research, we cannot but mention: 1) consideration of the most explored issues in Mozarabic studies; 2) identification of the research centers and names related to Mozarabic studies; 3) systematization of contents of the most significant works and research papers on the above-mentioned topic; 4) review of the language contacts that have taken place during the selected period as reflected in the accessible literature. The studies of this topic are far from being numerous while the trace of medieval Arab Spain remains visible by now in a variety of forms that make the chosen topic relevant. Regarding the outcomes of the work, it has been shown that the problem under analysis is not among the most researched ones; geographically it is mostly connected with Spain; the suggested works of scholars have some noticeable drawbacks and, lastly, the sphere of language contact being applied to the issue is underdeveloped and can be viewed via or on the level of three dimensions: 1) phonetical; 2) lexical and 3) graphical.