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Intermingling speech groups

Morpho-syntactic outcomes of language contact in a linguistic area in Burkina Faso, West Africa
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Abstract

This paper investigates the outcomes of contact-induced language change in two neighboring speech groups (Pana and Northern Samo) in an African multilingual setting. It describes the historical and social conditions of the area as a prerequisite for the understanding of linguistic contact processes. The typological fingerprints of the languages then establish the background for understanding linguistic changes. It demonstrates that morpho-syntactic elements such as negation, copula and focus constructions, phrase-final plural, and definiteness marking are in part the result of contact in this complex setting. Finally, it proposes a possible scenario that accounts for the different contact-induced features and also raises the question of the significance of extra-linguistic parameters for a theory of language contact.

Abstract

This paper investigates the outcomes of contact-induced language change in two neighboring speech groups (Pana and Northern Samo) in an African multilingual setting. It describes the historical and social conditions of the area as a prerequisite for the understanding of linguistic contact processes. The typological fingerprints of the languages then establish the background for understanding linguistic changes. It demonstrates that morpho-syntactic elements such as negation, copula and focus constructions, phrase-final plural, and definiteness marking are in part the result of contact in this complex setting. Finally, it proposes a possible scenario that accounts for the different contact-induced features and also raises the question of the significance of extra-linguistic parameters for a theory of language contact.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Variation and change in contact settings 1
  5. PART I. Types and outcomes of variation in multilingual settings
  6. Syntactic variation and change 23
  7. Advancing the change? 53
  8. Morphosyntactic contact-induced language change among young speakers of Estonian Russian 77
  9. Intermingling speech groups 107
  10. PART II. The role of ongoing variation in contact-induced change
  11. The interplay of inherent tendencies and language contact on French object clitics 137
  12. Contact-induced change and internal evolution 165
  13. The interplay of language-internal variation and contact influence in language change 199
  14. Change and variation in a trilingual setting 229
  15. Afterword 253
  16. Index 261
The Interplay of Variation and Change in Contact Settings
This chapter is in the book The Interplay of Variation and Change in Contact Settings
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.12.05bey

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Variation and change in contact settings 1
  5. PART I. Types and outcomes of variation in multilingual settings
  6. Syntactic variation and change 23
  7. Advancing the change? 53
  8. Morphosyntactic contact-induced language change among young speakers of Estonian Russian 77
  9. Intermingling speech groups 107
  10. PART II. The role of ongoing variation in contact-induced change
  11. The interplay of inherent tendencies and language contact on French object clitics 137
  12. Contact-induced change and internal evolution 165
  13. The interplay of language-internal variation and contact influence in language change 199
  14. Change and variation in a trilingual setting 229
  15. Afterword 253
  16. Index 261
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