28 Language contact and linguistic areas
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Sarah Thomason
Abstract
This chapter surveys the extent and nature of language contacts in North America north of Mexico-that is, in Canada and the continental United States. The chapter begins with an introductory survey of multilingual contacts on the continent- who is (or was) multilingual, where multilingualism exists (or existed), and when contacts occur(red). Next, the focus is on contacts among indigenous peoples, especially in pre-European, pre-reservation/reserve days. The chapter then moves on to a consideration of indigenous people’s contacts with Europeans, in particular immigrants from Spain, France, England, and Russia. The next section describes some of the non-extreme linguistic results of contacts: lexical borrowing and resistance to it, and structural diffusion. A separate section is devoted to a closer look at North American mixed languages and their histories: the pidgins Chinook Jargon, Pidgin Delaware (Lenape), Mobilian Jargon, American Indian Pidgin English, the Plains Indian Sign Language, and a few others; and the bilingual mixed languages Michif and Mednyj Aleut. The final main section covers linguistic areas in North America, in particular the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, and the Southeast.
Abstract
This chapter surveys the extent and nature of language contacts in North America north of Mexico-that is, in Canada and the continental United States. The chapter begins with an introductory survey of multilingual contacts on the continent- who is (or was) multilingual, where multilingualism exists (or existed), and when contacts occur(red). Next, the focus is on contacts among indigenous peoples, especially in pre-European, pre-reservation/reserve days. The chapter then moves on to a consideration of indigenous people’s contacts with Europeans, in particular immigrants from Spain, France, England, and Russia. The next section describes some of the non-extreme linguistic results of contacts: lexical borrowing and resistance to it, and structural diffusion. A separate section is devoted to a closer look at North American mixed languages and their histories: the pidgins Chinook Jargon, Pidgin Delaware (Lenape), Mobilian Jargon, American Indian Pidgin English, the Plains Indian Sign Language, and a few others; and the bilingual mixed languages Michif and Mednyj Aleut. The final main section covers linguistic areas in North America, in particular the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, and the Southeast.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of contents VII
- List of North American families, languages, and dialects XIII
- Maps XLI
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I Sounds and sound structure
- 1 Acoustic phonetics 1
- 2 Articulatory phonetics 39
- 3 Tone 63
- 4 Segmental phonology 89
- 5 Prosodic morphology 109
- 6 Word prosody 135
- 7 Prosody beyond the word 155
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II Words
- 8 What is a word? 183
- 9 Word classes 205
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III Sentences
- 10 Syntax within the clause 247
- 11 Negatives 267
- 12 Questions and requests in North American languages 283
- 13 Information structure 305
- 14 Clause-combining: Relative clauses 323
- 15 Clause combining: Syntax of subordination and complementation 345
- 16 Switch-reference and event cohesion 363
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IV Discourse
- 17 Verbal art 385
- 18 Conversation structure 421
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V Meaning
- 19 Lexicalization and lexical meaning 453
- 20 Lexicography 479
- 21 Evidentiality 497
- 22 Pluractionality and distributivity 511
- 23 Mass and count nouns 527
- 24 Sense of place: Space, landscape, and orientation 547
- 25 A sense of time and world 577
- 26 Pragmatics 599
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VI Languages over space and time
- 27 Languages as dynamic systems: How grammar can emerge 619
- 28 Language contact and linguistic areas 647
- 29 Language classification 669
- 30 Archival-based sociolinguistic variation 689
- 31 Community-based sociolinguistic variation 701
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of contents VII
- List of North American families, languages, and dialects XIII
- Maps XLI
-
I Sounds and sound structure
- 1 Acoustic phonetics 1
- 2 Articulatory phonetics 39
- 3 Tone 63
- 4 Segmental phonology 89
- 5 Prosodic morphology 109
- 6 Word prosody 135
- 7 Prosody beyond the word 155
-
II Words
- 8 What is a word? 183
- 9 Word classes 205
-
III Sentences
- 10 Syntax within the clause 247
- 11 Negatives 267
- 12 Questions and requests in North American languages 283
- 13 Information structure 305
- 14 Clause-combining: Relative clauses 323
- 15 Clause combining: Syntax of subordination and complementation 345
- 16 Switch-reference and event cohesion 363
-
IV Discourse
- 17 Verbal art 385
- 18 Conversation structure 421
-
V Meaning
- 19 Lexicalization and lexical meaning 453
- 20 Lexicography 479
- 21 Evidentiality 497
- 22 Pluractionality and distributivity 511
- 23 Mass and count nouns 527
- 24 Sense of place: Space, landscape, and orientation 547
- 25 A sense of time and world 577
- 26 Pragmatics 599
-
VI Languages over space and time
- 27 Languages as dynamic systems: How grammar can emerge 619
- 28 Language contact and linguistic areas 647
- 29 Language classification 669
- 30 Archival-based sociolinguistic variation 689
- 31 Community-based sociolinguistic variation 701
