Language Contact Phenomena Research Articles

A typological approach to language change in contact situations

Abstract Language contact phenomena have increasingly been researched from different historical linguistic, sociolinguistic and areal-typological perspectives. However, since most of this research is based on case studies, an assessment of contact phenomena from a worldwide comparative perspective has been missing in the literature. In this article, we draw inspiration from historical linguistics and language typology to present a new typological approach for evaluating evidence that given linguistic domains have been affected by language contact. This method has three parts: (1) a new approach to sampling, (2) the analysis of typological data, and (3) making probabilistic inferences about language contact. We argue that this is a parsimonious method for evaluating contact effects that can serve as a starting point for the further development of typological approaches to language contact.

OVERVIEW OF LANGUAGE CONTACT PHENOMENON FROM THE LINGUISTS' PERSPECTIVES

The phenomenon of language contact occurs due to the influence of social-linguistic factors, community dynamics, and international interactions. Consequently, it is a social phenomenon, a cultural encounter where languages coexist and mutually influence each other within a communicative community. Language contact contributes to the formation of diglossia, bilingualism, and borrowed words; phenomena of convergence, and interference; and the emergence of pidgin and creole. This article provides a comprehensive analysis and synthesis of language contact from the perspectives of Vietnamese and Korean linguists, based on data from Vietnamese and Korean. The research results can be preliminary applied to conceptualize the phenomenon of language contact, contributing to the expansion of studies on language transformation and effective application in language teaching and learning practices.

Japanese and Chinese Lexical Borrowing as an Outcome of Language Contact and Influence

As a commonly observed phenomenon, no language has not borrowed lexical items from some other language(s), just as no culture has developed with no influence from some other culture(s). There have been numerous studies of linguistic borrowing to explore why a particular language incorporates some linguistic elements from another language into its linguistic repertoire. This is known as a phenomenon of linguistic transference. Abundant research findings provide strong evidence that such a transference most commonly occurs in the realm of vocabulary because the borrowing language (i.e., the recipient language) incorporates some cultural items or conceptual elements and the names along with them from some external source. More specifically, this particular linguistic phenomenon is recognized as lexical borrowing. From some cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspectives, this study describes and explains lexical borrowing in terms of linguistic transformation as an outcome of language contact. Linguistic transformation is defined as adaptation of one linguistic form in one language to another linguistic form in another language. Language contact is defined as the phenomenon where two languages come into contact at various cross-linguistic and cross-cultural levels. Based on the representative examples as observed in contemporary Japanese and Chinese lexical borrowing, this paper presents a case study of such a particular language contact phenomenon by categorizing the borrowed lexical items into several areas of language contact. It describes linguistic transformation in terms of phonological/morphological adaptation and semantic transfer/creation/substitution. Thus, this study presents a model of lexical borrowing through language contact and its linguistic outcome.

Linguistic change in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: a corpus linguistic comparison of language contact phenomena in Romance languages

Abstract The radical social, political, and economic changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are clearly reflected in language use through the appearance of numerous neologisms, most of which can be considered borrowings from English. In this article, we take a contrastive linguistic approach and focus on the emergence of new lexemes in the press language of four Romance languages (European Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and European French) with a special focus on language contact. Since no press corpora were available with specific data on the COVID-19 pandemic, we created our own corpora for the entire year 2020 using Python in order to compare how lexical innovation is dealt with in the four languages. Our results show that conceptual innovation, especially when it occurs abruptly, can lead to equivalent, often phonotactically adapted neologisms in the case of neighbouring languages. However, the integration of foreign words and the formation of neologisms also show language-specific peculiarities which are not only related to structural characteristics of the respective languages, but also to sociolinguistic and sociocultural factors. Our study elaborates on the relationship between these factors and shows the potential of contrastive and computational approaches for the study of lexical repercussions of language contact.

Micro-sociolinguistic outcomes of language contact in different lects of Indian English

This paper explores language contact phenomena (substrate und superstrate influence, universal learning strategies) in the speech of English-dominant, Hindi-dominant and bilingual speakers of Indian English. In so doing, it describes the nature and extent of linguistic variation that spans a broad sociolinguistic spectrum. The empirical basis of the study targets two domains of language: morpho-syntax (the English present perfect) and discourse pragmatics (quotative marking). The stratification of the informants into English-dominant, Hindi-dominant and bilingual is diagnostic of the sociolinguistic settings in which varieties in contact have been acquired (predominantly English, predominantly Hindi or mixed). The results indicate that superstratal influence is most noticeable in the speech of English-dominant individuals. In contrast, Hindi-dominant and bilingual speakers demonstrate substrate-induced features in their speech. The universal learning strategies of simplification are limited to the linguistic repertoires of the individuals with predominantly Hindi background. Crucially, bilingual speakers appear to engage in the construction of creative coinages and lead an incipient language change in the domain of quotative marking. Against this backdrop, the study shows that bilingualism is a primary sociocognitive condition underpinning speakers’ linguistic creativity and its major prerequisite. The study also pinpoints the importance of sociolinguistic differentiation through meticulous ethnographic fieldwork in the study of linguistic variation.

Syntax in transition

This paper is an investigation of a language contact phenomenon currently taking place in Aanaar (Inari) Saami, an indigenous minority language of Finland. Aanaar Saami people have been in contact with Finnish speakers for centuries, so much so that the language community has become bilingual. This has resulted in the borrowing of both numerous Finnish loanwords and even some syntactic constructions into Aanaar Saami and seems to herald a larger change in the language. The present study focuses on a type of syntactic change called differential argument marking, which is examined in three Aanaar Saami clause types: transitive clauses, existential clauses, and passive verb clauses. Finnish exhibits complex argument marking, characterized by a total–partial distinction, whereas traditional Aanaar Saami does not have differential argument marking in subjects or objects. However, new Aanaar Saami shows multiple emergent types of differential argument marking that vary between individual speakers and, while clearly influenced by Finnish, do not always mirror their Finnish equivalents one-to-one. This, and the observation that differential argument marking is non-existent in older language materials, suggests that the phenomenon is recentFinnish influence.

Intuitions of native Japanese Sign Language signers onmouthing words with multiple pronunciations

Mouthings in signed languages have traditionally been understood as derived from spokenlanguages, and Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is no exception. However, Bauer andKyuseva (2022) has suggested that it is also a written language-contact phenomenon, astheir Russian Sign Language mouthing study shows that RSL signers mouth shapes thatpeople using spoken Russian would not. This study focuses on Japanese Sign Languageuser’s mouthing patterns when producing a word that has multiple possible mouthings.Spoken Japanese have multiple readings for the same logographic character, kanji, someJapanese-derived (kun-yomi), and some Chinese-derived (on-yomi). Fluent JSL signerswere asked to produce JSL signs for two sets: one for concepts with kun-yomi readingsin spoken language, and for objects ordinarily expressed with two or more kanji with onyomireadings. The findings show that JSL signers overwhelmingly use kun-yomi in theirmouthings, even for words read in on-yomi in spoken Japanese. In sum, this paper corroboratesBauer and Kyuseva’s finding that mouthings are not necessarily a completelyspoken language-contact phenomenon.

Language Contact Phenomena in Maya under Spanish Influence – A Case Study on the Use of Pronominals in Yucatec Maya

This contribution aims to analyse the language contact phenomena between Yucatec Maya and Spanish, focusing specifically on the case of pronominals. This empirical study takes place in the village of Xocén in Yucatán, Mexico where most locals speak Maya while Spanish is the official language also spoken by many (bilingual) locals. The use of pronominals in Maya differs from Spanish in terms of morphology, functions, case assignment, syntactic conditions, and discourse conditions. I apply the interface hypothesis developed by Sorace (2011) which expects bilinguals to show optionality in the use of pronominals that require specific syntactic and discourse conditions (interface), and the contact-induced language change hypothesis developed by Heine and Kuteva (2003) which expects the formation of the pronominals in Maya to be influenced by Spanish. In a case study with three monolingual Mayan speakers and six bilingual Mayan-Spanish speakers, I collected freely produced speech data in Maya focusing on the use of pronominals and analysed the different functions these pronominals fulfil. The results show that bilinguals do display optionality regarding certain pronominals that exist at interfaces and that no influence of Spanish can be found in the Mayan pronominal system. Therefore, Maya-Spanish bilingualism can be better characterised by Sorace’s interface hypothesis (2011) than by contact-induced grammaticalisation (Heine and Kuteva 2003).

Palatalized/affricated plosives in Paris French. A sociophonetic production-perception study of a dynamic working-class and/or language contact phenomenon among middle-class speakers

A long tradition of attracting work forces to Paris from outside countries has produced a high proportion of inhabitants using other languages than French (Gadet 2008). Geographically, most of the immigrants and their descendants are housed in cheap residential areas in the northern and eastern parts of the capital and its surrounding suburbs - zones that were historically the home of working-class Parisians. Recently, sociolinguists have observed that a specific way of speaking French in these areas has emerged (Fagyal 2010; Gadet 2017), and might be spreading. There is agreement that part of the lexical phenomena in this “multiethnolectal French” is due to language contact between French and the immigrant languages, but as for phonetic features, diverging claims exist. Are the palatalized and affricated plosives (qui [kji]), voiture [vwatʃyr]), the strongly articulated /r/’s, and the frequent drops of phonetic material an effect of contact with Arabic or are they features of working-class Parisian French that have been boosted through an identity-based process of reallocation? Regardless of the answer to this complex question, we seek here to grasp the potential of the palatalized/affricated plosives to spread socially upwards to non-multicultural, middle-class speakers outside the area in question. On the basis of our recordings with upper- and lower-middle-class Parisians (Hansen ms.) and of the attitudinal data we have gathered from a listening experiment among 235 predominantly middle-class French speakers (Hansen 2015, Hansen ms.), we conclude that the phenomenon in question does show signs of active adoption and social spread upwards, while being intriguingly little salient for our participants according to the perception results, as compared to other phonetic phenomena. Only when occurring with other features (in casu strongly articulated /r/’s, with which it shares the ambiguity of being both a popular French and a possible French-Arabic language contact feature), a few listeners comment overtly on its presence and associate its users to Maghreb and/or poor suburban descent.

L2 Proficiency Level Influences Loanword Adaptation: Variable Adaptation of English Co-occurrence of Low Vowel and Nasal Into Mandarin

As the most commonly established and attested language contact phenomenon, loanwords, also known as lexical borrowings, may undergo transformations when borrowed from the source language (SL) to the borrowing language (BL). Previous studies have separately illustrated the role of perception and phonology in the borrowing process. However, the speech perception or phonology contributes more to the adaptation pattern in some cases than others. Few studies attempt to explain this phenomenon. To fill in the gap, the present study hypothesizes that differences in borrowers’ L2 proficiency level of the SL are the potential source. To examine this hypothesis, an online adaptation experiment was designed and conducted. The experiment examines how Mandarin Chinese native speakers adapt the English non-words ended in the combination of low vowel and nasal coda. The results suggest that BL monolinguals and less proficient L2 learners of the SL tend to use a phonetic mapping strategy guided by the backness of vowels, while advanced learners of the SL are more likely to adopt a phonological mapping strategy based on coda nasal place. This paper concludes by proposing that borrowers’ L2 proficiency level has an effect on the certain randomized variations in the process of loanword adaptation.

Contact Linguistics of Interlanguage

Different from traditional definitions of “interlanguage” and descriptions of interlanguage production, this study defines interlanguage in terms of its outstanding linguistic characteristics at the level of abstract lexical structure, including its three sublevels: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and surface morphological realization patterns (Myers-Scotton and Jake 1995). Also different from most previous studies of interlanguage, this study views interlanguage or any interlanguage system as an outcome of a language-contact phenomenon. Adopting the Matrix Language Frame model (Myers-Scotton 1993[1997]) of bilingual intrasentential codeswitching in particular and contact linguistics in general, this study identifies the “matrix language” or the grammatical frame which structures interlanguage and reviews such a matrix language as a composite (Jake 1998; Wei 2009c). By adopting the Bilingual Lemma Activation model (Wei 2002, 2015, 2020), this study explores the nature and activity of the bilingual mental lexicon during interlanguage development. Accordingly, it proposes a particular approach to the nature and sources of second language learner errors or first language transfer in second language learning. It concludes that any interlanguage system must be driven by an incompletely acquired target language system in general and by an incompletely acquired target language abstract lexical structure in particular.

Language contact phenomena in multiword units: The code-switching–calquing continuum

Aims and objectives: Code-switching and calquing are two widespread language contact phenomena in bilingual speech. While both phenomena have been discussed extensively in research on language contact in the past decades, only very few studies systematically investigate code-switching and calquing of and within multiword units or constructions. In our contribution, we aim at developing a more differentiated account of code-switching and calquing of and within multiword units and constructions, bringing together recent usage-based psycholinguistic and Construction Grammar theories and modeling with cognitively oriented approaches to language contact and bilingualism. Design: We analyze and discuss corpus data from the Corpus of Spanish in Southern Arizona (CESA) from first-, second-, and third-generation bilingual Spanish–English speakers in Arizona. Data and analysis: The corpus analysis focuses on code-switching and calquing of and within N Prep N, NN(N), and Adj N/N Adj patterns (N = noun, Prep = preposition, Adj = adjective). Findings/conclusions: The analysis highlights the importance of both lexically specific multiword units and partially and fully schematic constructions in code-switching and calquing as well as a continuum between constructions situated closer to the lexical or to the syntactic pole. Originality: Whereas multiword sequences have been found to play an important role in (mostly first language [L1]) acquisition, use, and processing, the role of multiword units and constructions in bilingual speech has been much less studied so far. Significance/implications: The study shows that both lexically specific constructions or multiword units as well as partially or fully schematic constructions play a central role in code-switching and calquing. The study argues that code-switching and calquing may ultimately be viewed as a continuum, since the speakers rely on similar, highly frequent, and productive constructions and their interlingual correspondences for both phenomena.

English-Arabic Language Contact Phenomena In Social Media As Communicative Learning

The issue of contact meaning in communicative learning has received considerable critical attention. Translation and contact meaning are two terms that have enjoyed interpretation in modern language studies. Contact meaning is required to understand translation. Language contact is the social and linguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different languages. This paper describes Arabic and English contact phenomena. This article aims to identify relationships between English-Arabic contact meaning elements and increase forms of communicative learning in social media through social media. This study has limitations; the data were collected from one social media platform, Instragram reel account english_with_ms_zainab. This study shows that the English-Arabic contact phenome has some categories: interlanguage, the tip of the tongue, hypercorrection, and cross-cultural understanding. Using social media could improve students’ communication ability by learning through an Instagram reel as a social media.

The language contact phenomenon in Thailand: English borrowing, comprehension, and public attitudes

As the English lexicon has become more frequently borrowed and used in Thai mass media and social media, Thais are quickly adapting to such foreignness and are open to language contact-induced change. The current study explores the extent of the public’s familiarity with borrowed words in contemporary Thai public media and attitudes toward language borrowing. The study participants comprised 120 Thais who voluntarily completed a questionnaire. They were from different age groups and were relatively highly educated. The instrument for the data collection was an online three-part questionnaire probing demographic information, an individual’s comprehension of the borrowed lexicon as tested via 15 questions of lexical borrowing in context, and personal views probed in the questionnaire questions about English lexical borrowing. Follow-up interviews with six selected respondents according to age groups verified and elicited attitudes toward lexical borrowing. The findings revealed that high exposure to English resulted in a high level of comprehension, especially when words were transcribed in the Thai script with tone markers. If the borrowing was in Romanized script, it was less likely to be understood. The majority of the respondents recognized the need for English language borrowing in Thai communication, especially for terminology. They also expressed positive views toward the adoption of the practice. English was perceived as necessary for effective Thai communication, particularly among acquaintances and professionals. The ubiquity of English in Thai society today has led to general adaptability and acceptance of borrowing as part of language evolution; such practices are no longer a sign of prestige. The study suggests that language classrooms should consider using borrowed English lexicons to assist Thai EFL learners in developing English proficiency.

The Simple View of borrowing and code-switching

Aims and Objectives: In this paper, a novel approach to the distinction between borrowing and code-switching is proposed, called the Simple View of borrowing and code-switching. Under this view, listedness is seen as the key condition for classifying words or multiword units (MWUs) as borrowings. For MWUs, listedness is operationalized with mutual information (MI) scores: the higher the MI score of a given set of words, the higher the likelihood it is listed in the lexicon. Under the Simple View, the distinction between borrowing and code-switching is seen as a specific instantiation of the distinction between what belongs in the lexicon (fixed, arbitrary patterns) and what is computed online (productive rules), and should therefore be considered as part of the grammar. Methodology: Assumptions from the Simple View were tested on a corpus of switches of single words and MWUs from a Turkish-German code-switching corpus (87,000 words), which was transcribed in CHAT format. Data and analysis: The frequency of switches in either direction, and their morphosyntactic integration patterns were analysed with CLAN. The formulaicity of the MWUs was analysed with MI scores through Sketchengine. Findings: The MI scores of the donor language MWUs were found to be above 3, which is the cut-off point for formulaicity in Corpus Linguistics. Thus, the MWUs were found to be borrowings. In addition, MWUs were found to be more likely to be borrowed than single words. Originality: Insights about formulaic language from Corpus Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition were used to inform analyses of language contact phenomena, and new ways to test the model are proposed. Significance: The Simple View offers a unified approach to borrowing of lexical items and function words and opens a new avenue for research using neuroscientific methods to test whether items are listed in speakers’ mental lexicons.

Kontak bahasa dalam lanskap linguistik di Kota Bandar Lampung

This research aims to describe the forms of language phenomena such as monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual in the linguistic landscape of Bandar Lampung city. As one of the major cities in Sumatra, Bandar Lampung is a melting pot of various communities with different backgrounds. Bandar Lampung is also a student city in Lampung Province, which leads to language contact phenomena that arise in Bandar Lampung. The Linguistic Landscape can be used to observe these phenomena. This research is qualitative in nature, and data is obtained from observations made through the Google Maps application. The data collection technique used is note-taking and observation. Data analysis techniques used in this research include data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and concluding. The results of this research indicate the presence of monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual forms in the linguistic landscape of Bandar Lampung. These forms can be seen in syntactic structures such as words, phrases, clauses, and even sentences. The emergence of these three forms is influenced by economic, religious, ethnic, and educational factors. In this research, the researcher restricted the data collection to texts outside of enclosed spaces. Keywords: Bandar Lampung City, bilingual, linguistic landscape, monolingual, multilingual

Code-Switching in Relation to Other Language-Contact Phenomena: A Theoretical Account

Research on code-switching (CS) has witnessed a major terminological issue, especially with regard to its relation to other concepts of language contact phenomena. CS, as a research area, is troubled with the question of terminological confusion. Sometimes, researchers use different labels to indicate the same notion; in others, they use the same term to refer to distinct notions. Hence, there is no definite consensus on the territory covered by the terms related to the CS phenomenon such as CM, borrowing, transfer and so on. This article attempts to explore and clarify these terms and examine their similarity or distinction to CS. The latter is reviewed in comparison to four close and interrelated linguistic phenomena, namely code-mixing, diglossia, borrowing, and interference. This review is based on reviewing the literature and reflecting on it.

A Review and Critical Analysis of Qualitative Methodologies and Data-Collection Techniques Used for Code-Switching Research

<i>Code-switching is considered a language contact phenomenon that has long been a subject of scholarly investigation. This paper provides a review of common and nascent qualitative techniques often used to examine code-switching. Such a collection of salient qualitative methodologies could provide researchers with both prevailing and new frameworks and avenues for examining myriad types and aspects of code-switching. Numerous studies are highlighted with summaries of their data collection procedures, analysis techniques, and results. Also included are rationales for applying qualitative approaches to code-switching studies – especially poignant, as a trend to utilizing more experimental research designs have been recently observed regarding language contact phenomena. This paper will also discuss which types of research designs effectively combine techniques of acquiring code-switching data with rigorous approaches to data analysis to render new understandings of code-switching</i>

What’s in a Name? An Ethnosemantic Study of Muslim Mosque Names in Southern Thailand

Religious faith tends to vacillate in multicultural societies where religion influences social behavior and culture. However, this study has found a vividly different experience in Thailand’s four multicultural southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkla. These areas are notable for their high level of political and religious violence. This study is conducted via an ethnosemantic approach to find out how the Islamic faith culture echoed from their mosque names remains stable in those four provinces where religious and ethnic conflict is a daily experience. The sample comprises 1,637 Muslim mosque names of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkla. Muslim mosque names used in those four provinces were collected and analyzed. It was found that Muslim mosques in the four multicultural provinces are named through varied naming strategies with Arabic, Malay dialect, and Thai, respectively and four syllabic names are mostly found. In terms of meaning, the mosque names are directly related to God (called Allah in Arabic) as well as Allah’s last savant, Prophet Muhammad. Those names are also related to good deeds, virtue, and harmony. The meanings of the names show Muslims remain faithful to Allah and his last savant despite the surrounding turmoil. However, some Thai names which are not Muslim names were also found in the study. This variant is probably due to the language contact phenomenon occurring in these four provinces.

Lexical Innovation between Unification and Purism: The Case of Corona-Related Terminology in Arabic-Broadcasting Media

Media is strong enough to influence different fields, including economy, politics, education, to name but a few. This influence is inevitable on languages of the world. Distant contact has proved to introduce interesting language contact phenomena just like direct contact does. The present paper investigated Corona-related lexis in the spoken language of Arabic-broadcasting media, namely Aljazeera and A3 (an Algerian public channel). The significance of the study lies in showing the extent to which such media can influence Standard Arabic and how journalists can be important language agents. The question guiding the research is to circle the main linguistic process(es) adopted by journalists when they are faced with a situation which calls for immediate lexical modernization to name new concepts or objects. The research built on a descriptive discourse analysis method within the language-in-use approach for studying a corpus of 9314 utterances. It was found that media plays a role of prime importance in the diffusion of new vocabulary. Such diffusion remains uncontrolled by linguistic bodies, and therefore the linguists’ role is, to a certain extent, divorced. It was found that the media language builds on borrowings, manifested in different types. Semantic expansion of already existing Arabic words was less attested. Coinage was found to be the least adopted method to introduce new items to name novel objects and concepts. Also, a point of prime significance is that English remains the main lending language on which Standard Arabic depends in the modernization of its dictionary. It was reported that some of the core borrowings of English origin are diffused even in the Maghreb region (namely Algeria) where French used to be a dominant foreign language.