Language Death, Language Contact, and Language Evolution

1978 ◽  
pp. 45-78 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Language Death

scholarly journals Inferring recent evolutionary changes in speech sounds

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1824) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Moran ◽  
Nicholas A. Lester ◽  
Eitan Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, we investigate evolutionarily recent changes in the distributions of speech sounds in the world's languages. In particular, we explore the impact of language contact in the past two millennia on today's distributions. Based on three extensive databases of phonological inventories, we analyse the discrepancies between the distribution of speech sounds of ancient and reconstructed languages, on the one hand, and those in present-day languages, on the other. Furthermore, we analyse the degree to which the diffusion of speech sounds via language contact played a role in these discrepancies. We find evidence for substantive differences between ancient and present-day distributions, as well as for the important role of language contact in shaping these distributions over time. Moreover, our findings suggest that the distributions of speech sounds across geographic macro-areas were homogenized to an observable extent in recent millennia. Our findings suggest that what we call the Implicit Uniformitarian Hypothesis, at least with respect to the composition of phonological inventories, cannot be held uncritically. Linguists who would like to draw inferences about human language based on present-day cross-linguistic distributions must consider their theories in light of even short-term language evolution. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

Special Language Domain in Which Grammatical Rules May Be Violated Legitimately in Chinese

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Xu ◽  
Yewei Qin
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Core System ◽  
Linguistic Rules ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Economic Zones ◽  
Special Language

“Special language domain” (SLD) refers to domains or areas of language use in which linguistic rules may be violated legitimately. The SLD is similar to “free trade zones,” “special administrative regions,” and “special economic zones” in which tariff, executive, and economic regulations may be legitimately violated to an extent. Innovative use in SLD is another major resource for language evolution and language change as well as language contact and language acquisition, since some temporary and innovative forms of usage in SLD may develop beyond the SLD at a later stage to become part of the core system of linguistic rules. Focusing on relevant grammatical phenomena observed in the Chinese language, poetry in various forms, titles and slogans, and Internet language are the three major types of SLD, and their violation of linguistic rules is motivated differently. Furthermore, although core linguistic rules may be violated in SLD, the violations are still subject to certain limits and restrictions. Only some language-particular rules can be violated legitimately in SLD; the principles of Universal Grammar, applicable generally for all human languages, have to be observed even in the SLD. The study of a special language domain provides an ideal and fascinating window for linguists to understand language mechanisms, explain historical change in language, and plausibly predict the future direction of language evolution.

scholarly journals Prenominal relative clauses in Ethiopian languages: From inside and from outside

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-252
Author(s):  
Tong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Language Area ◽  
Synchronic Comparison

The main objective of this data-oriented study is to give a synchronic typological overview of Ethiopian prenominal relative clauses, both from the inside and from the outside. By “inside”, I mean to compare prenominal relative clauses in the Ethiopian area in order to show how they are different from and/or similar to each other. By “outside”, I extend the comparison to beyond Ethiopian languages and include other African languages with or without prenominal relative clauses and languages from elsewhere with prenominal relative clauses. These comparisons will show to what extent Ethiopian prenominal relative clauses are typologically marked or ordinary. However, the inside comparison will be given more attention. Furthermore, synchronic comparison naturally leads us to questions concerning language evolution and language contact. These questions have always been in the center of studies of the Ethiopian Language Area and will be discussed here.

Incorporating American English into the History of English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Burkette
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
American English ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Natural Result

This chapter provides some suggestions for the inclusion of the history of American English into the larger context of the History of the English Language (HEL). By touching on themes found throughout within the external and internal history of English, for example, language contact and specific morphological and phonological processes, respectively, one can include lessons on American English and its varieties as an extension of the History of English, demonstrating to students that language “evolution” is an ongoing process and that variation within the language is a natural result of historical, linguistic, and social forces. This chapter begins with a (brief) general narrative of the development of American English and then offers a series of possible themes that could be incorporated into a HEL class for special focus, along with assignments and/or additional resources that encourage students to engage with the focus topics more deeply.

Population Movements and Contacts in Language Evolution

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salikoko Mufwene
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Ecological Factor ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Population Movements ◽  
Ecological Conditions ◽  
Ecology Of Language

AbstractI argue for uniformitarianism (Mufwene 2001) in accounts of language evolution. Below, after dismissing a few myths about the development of creoles, I show how what we have learned to date about this case of language speciation prompts genetic linguists to reopen the books about language diversification in general and as a concomitant of language death in many cases. I adduce various examples from distant and recent histories to illustrate how population movements and contacts have been a critical ecological factor even in the cases of so-called "internally-motivated" change. The distinction between "internally" and "externally-motivated" language change boils down to a mere sociological contrast once contact is situated at the inter-idiolectal level, where interactions and negotiations between linguistic systems take place, regardless of whether or not xenolectal features participate in the feature pool. Ultimately, the same mechanisms of competition and selection that apply to linguistic features also apply to languages and dialects. Driven by the ecology of language use, the mechanisms roll the dice not only on how a particular language evolves under specific ecological conditions but also on the vitality of languages.

LANGUAGE CONTACT, VARIATION, AND CHANGE. Jussi Niemi, Terence Odlin, and Janne Heikkinen (Eds.). Joensuu, Finland: University of Joensuu, 1998. Pp. 286.

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 602-602
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Summer School ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
Language Death

The chapters of this book come from the 1997 Finnish Conference on Linguistics and the Scandinavian Summer School on Language Diversity. A number of the contributions focus on endangered languages, in particular, Ingrian Finnish. Hallamaa discusses developing appropriate methodologies to study endangered languages and evaluate individual language proficiency. Chapters by Koko and Riionheimo describe the loss of Ingrian through shift to Estonian. Ingrian is, again, the topic for Savijiirvi, who compares and provides a detailed sociohistory of four Balto-Finnic languages: Votian, Ingrian, Estonian, and Finnish. Duray writes about language death, focusing on the extralinguistic factors that have caused a community-wide shift to Russian by the Nganasan-speaking people.

Why we need a gradient approach to word order

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Levshina ◽  
Savithry Namboodiripad ◽  
Marc Allassonnière-Tang ◽  
Mathew Alex Kramer ◽  
Luigi Talamo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Contact Language ◽  
Gradient Approach ◽  
Order Variability

This paper argues for a gradient approach to word order, which treats word order preferences, both within and across languages, as a continuous variable. Word order variability should be regarded as a basic assumption, rather than as something exceptional. Although this approach follows naturally from the emergentist usage-based view of language, we argue that it can be beneficial for all frameworks and linguistic domains, including language acquisition, processing, typology, language contact, language evolution and change, variationist linguistics and formal approaches. Gradient approaches have been very fruitful in some domains, such as language processing, but their potential is not fully realized yet. This may be due to practical reasons. We discuss the most pressing methodological challenges in corpus-based and experimental research of word order and propose some solutions and best practices.

Is phonology going haywire in dying languages? Phonological variations in Chipewyan and Sarcee

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eung-Do Cook
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Total System ◽  
Language Death ◽  
Different Levels

ABSTRACTThe two most conspicuous phenomena reported on dying languages are (a) structural (and stylistic) simplifications and (b) dramatic increases of variability due to incongruent and idiosyncratic “change.” The phonological data from two Athapaskan languages, as well as other published data (Dorian 1973, 1978; Hill 1978; Schmidt 1985a), demonstrate that underlying the apparent degeneration of the system there is an orderly progression which is viewed as a retarded process of language acquisition. Different semispeakers reach different levels of maturity due to different degrees of retardation, consequently increasing variability and complexity for the total system, whereas each idiolect undergoes systematic developmental stages albeit retarded, decreasing eventually structural (and stylistic) profusion. Therefore, a dying language mirrors the successive stages of ontogenesis. (Historical linguistics, language acquisition, language death, language contact, bilingualism, sociolinguistics)

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