The macrosociolinguistics of language contact

Abstract

Abstract This contribution provides an overview of macrosociolinguistic approaches to the study of language contact, with a focus on contact languages. It addresses the current state of the art and future of the field. It also reflects on the global inequalities of power in the study of contact languages and the ways in which research on contact languages can serve as a model for North-South cooperation. Studies on contact languages and their histories of formation show how power and prestige are tightly connected to demographic factors and the political, economic, and ideological frameworks that mold language structures. They also inform us about the mechanisms that seemingly exert an influence on the correlations between structural and extra-linguistic factors. New areas of comparative inquiry with large datasets, new methods and varied contexts continue to diversify and further our understanding of the macrosociolinguistics of contact. These advances require a dialogue with other focus areas of sociolinguistics and a critical, self-reflective approach to the epistemological basis of the field.