Home Linguistics & Semiotics 23. Language contact between typologically different languages: functional transfer
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

23. Language contact between typologically different languages: functional transfer

  • Anna María Escobar
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Manual of Romance Sociolinguistics
This chapter is in the book Manual of Romance Sociolinguistics

Abstract

The study of contact-induced phenomena between typologically different languages has focused primarily on borrowing of phonological material through lexical and grammatical borrowing. Fewer studies have treated grammatical influence, also referred to as functional transfer, which has been explained as “less accessible to speaker consciousness”, more “tightly integrated to the linguistic system”, and requiring the establishing of “equivalence relations” between the two languages (Mithun 2013, 244-246). In this chapter, the grammatical influence of an Amerindian language (Quechua) on Spanish is presented to exemplify a case of functional transfer by analysing possession in both languages, and by proposing the grammatical parallels that lead to the innovative construction found in Andean Spanish. The chapter calls for considering the study of Romance languages, especially the global languages of Spanish and French, as a rich area of study to help uncover functional transfer in unrelated languages due to the many and diverse contact scenarios they represent.

Abstract

The study of contact-induced phenomena between typologically different languages has focused primarily on borrowing of phonological material through lexical and grammatical borrowing. Fewer studies have treated grammatical influence, also referred to as functional transfer, which has been explained as “less accessible to speaker consciousness”, more “tightly integrated to the linguistic system”, and requiring the establishing of “equivalence relations” between the two languages (Mithun 2013, 244-246). In this chapter, the grammatical influence of an Amerindian language (Quechua) on Spanish is presented to exemplify a case of functional transfer by analysing possession in both languages, and by proposing the grammatical parallels that lead to the innovative construction found in Andean Spanish. The chapter calls for considering the study of Romance languages, especially the global languages of Spanish and French, as a rich area of study to help uncover functional transfer in unrelated languages due to the many and diverse contact scenarios they represent.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Table of Contents IX
  5. Introduction
  6. 0. Romance sociolinguistics: past, present, future 3
  7. Methodological issues
  8. 1. Annotating oral corpora 27
  9. 2. Quantitative approaches for modelling variation and change: a case study of sociophonetic data from Occitan 59
  10. 3. Collecting and analysing creole data 91
  11. 4. Fieldwork and building corpora for endangered varieties 114
  12. 5. Romance dialectology: from the nineteenth century to the era of sociolinguistics 134
  13. Variation and change
  14. 6. Speaker variables in Romance: when demography and ideology collide 173
  15. 7. Speaker variables and their relation to language change 197
  16. 8. Variation and grammaticalization in Romance: a cross-linguistic study of the subjunctive 217
  17. 9. Historical sociolinguistics and tracking language change: sources, text types and genres 253
  18. 10. Speaker-based approaches to past language states 280
  19. 11. Variation and prescriptivism 307
  20. Medium, register, text type, genre
  21. 12. Oral genres: concepts and complexities 335
  22. 13. Register and text type 362
  23. 14. New Media: new Romance varieties? 386
  24. 15. Medium and creole 405
  25. Linguae minores / Minoritized languages: status, norms, policy and revitalization
  26. 16. Language policies in the Romancespeaking countries of Europe 433
  27. 17. Linguistic diversity in Spain 462
  28. 18. The languages and dialects of Italy 494
  29. 19. Multilingualism in Switzerland 526
  30. 20. Revitalization and the public space 549
  31. 21. Revitalization and education 570
  32. Language contact
  33. 22. Romance in contact with Romance 595
  34. 23. Language contact between typologically different languages: functional transfer 627
  35. 24. When Romance meets English 652
  36. 25. Language contact in a rural community 682
  37. 26. Code-switching and immigrant communities: the case of Italy 702
  38. 27. The metropolization of French worldwide 724
  39. 28. Transnational migration and language practices: the impact on Spanish-speaking migrants 745
  40. Contributors 769
  41. Index of concepts 777
  42. Index of names 790
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110365955-024

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Table of Contents IX
  5. Introduction
  6. 0. Romance sociolinguistics: past, present, future 3
  7. Methodological issues
  8. 1. Annotating oral corpora 27
  9. 2. Quantitative approaches for modelling variation and change: a case study of sociophonetic data from Occitan 59
  10. 3. Collecting and analysing creole data 91
  11. 4. Fieldwork and building corpora for endangered varieties 114
  12. 5. Romance dialectology: from the nineteenth century to the era of sociolinguistics 134
  13. Variation and change
  14. 6. Speaker variables in Romance: when demography and ideology collide 173
  15. 7. Speaker variables and their relation to language change 197
  16. 8. Variation and grammaticalization in Romance: a cross-linguistic study of the subjunctive 217
  17. 9. Historical sociolinguistics and tracking language change: sources, text types and genres 253
  18. 10. Speaker-based approaches to past language states 280
  19. 11. Variation and prescriptivism 307
  20. Medium, register, text type, genre
  21. 12. Oral genres: concepts and complexities 335
  22. 13. Register and text type 362
  23. 14. New Media: new Romance varieties? 386
  24. 15. Medium and creole 405
  25. Linguae minores / Minoritized languages: status, norms, policy and revitalization
  26. 16. Language policies in the Romancespeaking countries of Europe 433
  27. 17. Linguistic diversity in Spain 462
  28. 18. The languages and dialects of Italy 494
  29. 19. Multilingualism in Switzerland 526
  30. 20. Revitalization and the public space 549
  31. 21. Revitalization and education 570
  32. Language contact
  33. 22. Romance in contact with Romance 595
  34. 23. Language contact between typologically different languages: functional transfer 627
  35. 24. When Romance meets English 652
  36. 25. Language contact in a rural community 682
  37. 26. Code-switching and immigrant communities: the case of Italy 702
  38. 27. The metropolization of French worldwide 724
  39. 28. Transnational migration and language practices: the impact on Spanish-speaking migrants 745
  40. Contributors 769
  41. Index of concepts 777
  42. Index of names 790
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 13.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110365955-024/html
Scroll to top button