Mixed Languages, Younger Languages, and Contact-Induced Linguistic Change

Abstract

Many languages have been described as mixed languages, which together with pidgins and creoles can be classified as younger languages, because they have developed from preexisting languages. Several kinds of mixed languages are distinguished here on predominantly sociolinguistic (rather than on purely structural) grounds, and features are compared across mixed languages. Some of these languages are used as the major language of their respective speech communities, whereas other languages are used for specific purposes within a speech community, which othewrwise employs non-mixed languages. It is shown that although many mixed languages show a wide range of social or structural similarities, there is no single template which can be employed to describe all stable mixed languages.