Dynamics of Language Contact

Dynamics of Language Contact
Author: Michael G. Clyne
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2003-03-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780521786485

Discusses disparate findings to examine the dynamics of contact between languages in an immigrant context.

The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages

The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages
Author: Peter K. Austin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 581
Release: 2011-03-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 113950083X

It is generally agreed that about 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today and at least half may no longer be spoken by the end of this century. This state-of-the-art Handbook examines the reasons behind this dramatic loss of linguistic diversity, why it matters, and what can be done to document and support endangered languages. The volume is relevant not only to researchers in language endangerment, language shift and language death, but to anyone interested in the languages and cultures of the world. It is accessible both to specialists and non-specialists: researchers will find cutting-edge contributions from acknowledged experts in their fields, while students, activists and other interested readers will find a wealth of readable yet thorough and up-to-date information.

The Handbook of Language Contact

The Handbook of Language Contact
Author: Raymond Hickey
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1102
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1119485053

The second edition of the definitive reference on contact studies and linguistic change—provides extensive new research and original case studies Language contact is a dynamic area of contemporary linguistic research that studies how language changes when speakers of different languages interact. Accessibly structured into three sections, The Handbook of Language Contact explores the role of contact studies within the field of linguistics, the value of contact studies for language change research, and the relevance of language contact for sociolinguistics. This authoritative volume presents original findings and fresh research directions from an international team of prominent experts. Thirty-seven specially-commissioned chapters cover a broad range of topics and case studies of contact from around the world. Now in its second edition, this valuable reference has been extensively updated with new chapters on topics including globalization, language acquisition, creolization, code-switching, and genetic classification. Fresh case studies examine Romance, Indo-European, African, Mayan, and many other languages in both the past and the present. Addressing the major issues in the field of language contact studies, this volume: Includes a representative sample of individual studies which re-evaluate the role of language contact in the broader context of language and society Offers 23 new chapters written by leading scholars Examines language contact in different societies, including many in Africa and Asia Provides a cross-section of case studies drawing on languages across the world The Handbook of Language Contact, Second Edition is an indispensable resource for researchers, scholars, and students involved in language contact, language variation and change, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, and language theory.

Linguistic Ecology and Language Contact

Linguistic Ecology and Language Contact
Author: Ralph Ludwig
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2019
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 110704135X

This book revisits and updates the concept of linguistic ecology, outlining applications to a variety of contact situations worldwide.

Dynamic Linguistics

Dynamic Linguistics
Author: Iwan Wmffre
Publisher: Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Historical linguistics
ISBN: 9783034317054

Analysis of language as a combination of both a structural and a lexical component overlooks a third all-encompassing aspect: dynamics. Dynamic Linguistics approaches the description of the complex phenomenon that is human language by focusing on this important but often neglected aspect. This book charts the belated recognition of the importance of dynamic synchrony in twentieth-century linguistics and discusses two other key concepts in some detail: speech community and language structure. Because of their vital role in the development of a dynamic approach to linguistics, the three linguists William Labov, André Martinet and Roman Jakobson are featured, in particular Martinet in whose later writings - neglected in the English-speaking world - the fullest appreciation of the dynamics of language to date are found. A sustained attempt is also made to chronicle precursors, between the nineteenth century and the 1970s, who provided inspiration for these three scholars in the development of a dynamic approach to linguistic description and analysis. The dynamic approach to linguistics is intended to help consolidate functional structuralists, geolinguists, sociolinguists and all other empirically minded linguists within a broader theoretical framework as well as playing a part in reversing the overformalism of the simplistic structuralist framework which has dominated, and continues to dominate, present-day linguistic description.

The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingualism

The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingualism
Author: Annick De Houwer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 678
Release: 2018-11-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781107179219

The ability to speak two or more languages is a common human experience, whether for children born into bilingual families, young people enrolled in foreign language classes, or mature and older adults learning and using more than one language to meet life's needs and desires. This Handbook offers a developmentally oriented and socially contextualized survey of research into individual bilingualism, comprising the learning, use and, as the case may be, unlearning of two or more spoken and signed languages and language varieties. A wide range of topics is covered, from ideologies, policy, the law, and economics, to exposure and input, language education, measurement of bilingual abilities, attrition and forgetting, and giftedness in bilinguals. Also explored are cross- and intra-disciplinary connections with psychology, clinical linguistics, second language acquisition, education, cognitive science, neurolinguistics, contact linguistics, and sign language research.

The Dynamics of Language

The Dynamics of Language
Author: Rajend Mesthrie
Publisher: Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1775822273

Linguistics – the close study of language and languages – is an indispensable foundation for all forms of knowledge. The African continent is blessed with hundreds of languages which act as local repositories of culture and interaction. South Africa alone has eleven official languages, plus Sign Language, many heritage languages, and new languages of global movements and migration. Part of the linguist’s business is to document, record and affirm languages and diversity. Applied linguists use their training to understand and enhance the role of language in education and upliftment, and the opportunities and challenges of new technologies of communication. The International Congress of Linguists meets every five years to reflect the development of the field and 2018 is the first time that the congress is being held in Africa. This book is a collection of the plenary and focus papers presented at the conference and thus represents current thinking in the major branches of language study as represented by leading local and international scholars. The papers discuss the history of languages, their structure, acquisition, diversity and use. At the same time due regard is paid to the African continent in connection with its linguistic diversity, multilingualism and educational and societal concerns. The Congress is meant to affirm the value of the languages of Africa, of languages and Linguistics in general, as well as to inspire and equip younger scholars to undertake advanced research into language in its many facets.

Current Issues in Bilingualism

Current Issues in Bilingualism
Author: Mark Leikin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2011-11-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 940072327X

As populations become more mobile, so interest grows in bi- and multilingualism, particularly in the context of education. This volume focuses on the singular situation in Israel, whose complex multiculturalism has Hebrew and Arabic as official languages, English as an academic and political language, and tongues such as Russian and Amharic spoken by immigrants. Presenting research on bi- and trilingualism in Israel from a multitude of perspectives, the book focuses on four aspects of multilingualism and literacy in Israel: Arabic-Hebrew bilingual education and Arabic literacy development; second-language Hebrew literacy among immigrant children; literacy in English as a second/third language; and adult bilingualism. Chapters dissect findings on immigrant youth education, language impairment in bilinguals, and neurocognitive features of bilingual language processing. Reflecting current trends, this volume integrates linguistics, sociology, education, cognitive science, and neuroscience.

Linguistic Attractors

Linguistic Attractors
Author: David L. Cooper
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027223548

The interdisciplinary linguistic attractor model portrays language processing as linked sequences of fractal sets, and examines the changing dynamics of such sets for individuals as well as the speech community they comprise. Its motivation stems from human anatomic constraints and several artificial neural network approaches. It uses general computation theory to: (1) demonstrate the capacity of Cantor-like fractal sets to perform as Turing Machines; (2) better distinguish between models that simply match outputs (emulation) and models that match both outputs and internal dynamics (simulation); and (3) relate language processing to essential computation steps executed in parallel. Measure and information theory highlight the key variables driving linguistic dynamics, while catastrophe and game theory help predict the possible topologies of language change.It introduces techniques to isolate and measure attractors, and to interpret their stability and relative content within a system. Important results include the capability to distinguish the sequence of related sound changes, and to make point-to-point comparisons of different texts using common metrics. Other techniques allow quantifiable ambiguity landscapes illustrating the forces that propel different languages in different directions.

Language Contact and Contact Languages

Language Contact and Contact Languages
Author: Peter Siemund
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2008
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027219273

This new volume on language contact and contact languages presents cutting-edge research by distinguished scholars in the field as well as by highly talented newcomers. It has two principal aims: to analyze language contact from different perspectives – notably those of language typology, diachronic linguistics, language acquisition and translation studies; and to describe, explain, and elaborate on universal constraints on language contact. The individual chapters offer systematic comparisons of a wealth of contact situations and the book as a whole makes a valuable contribution to deepening our understanding of contact-induced language change. With its broad approach, this work will be welcomed by scholars of many different persuasions.