Home Linguistics & Semiotics Language contact, language decay and morphological change: evidence from the speech of Czech immigrants in Paraguay*
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Language contact, language decay and morphological change: evidence from the speech of Czech immigrants in Paraguay*

  • Lenka Zajícová
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Morphologies in Contact
This chapter is in the book Morphologies in Contact

Abstract

The article examines contact-induced morphological innovations and changes in the speech of members of the Czech immigrant community in Paraguay, representatives of different immigrant generations with differing degrees of language proficiency. It focuses especially on three phenomena in this language shift situation: bilingual speech production errors on the morphological level, manifested as bound morpheme transfer; the preponderance of the influence of form over structure, and extreme creativity in semi-speakers' innovations, where almost no general tendencies can be found. It emphasizes the necessity of distinguishing between a speaker's spontaneous innovation and language change in his/her idiolect and in the speech of the community, which requires the thorough study of each idiolect. It is especially in the process of the adoption and propagation of innovations that general rules leading to generalization and systematization operate, not on the level of innovation itself, where the speaker's creativity is almost without limits.

Abstract

The article examines contact-induced morphological innovations and changes in the speech of members of the Czech immigrant community in Paraguay, representatives of different immigrant generations with differing degrees of language proficiency. It focuses especially on three phenomena in this language shift situation: bilingual speech production errors on the morphological level, manifested as bound morpheme transfer; the preponderance of the influence of form over structure, and extreme creativity in semi-speakers' innovations, where almost no general tendencies can be found. It emphasizes the necessity of distinguishing between a speaker's spontaneous innovation and language change in his/her idiolect and in the speech of the community, which requires the thorough study of each idiolect. It is especially in the process of the adoption and propagation of innovations that general rules leading to generalization and systematization operate, not on the level of innovation itself, where the speaker's creativity is almost without limits.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter 1
  2. Preface 9
  3. Part I: Amerindia
  4. Part I: Amerindia
  5. Morphologies in contact: form, meaning, and use in the grammar of reference 13
  6. Part I: Amerindia
  7. Borrowing of a Cariban number marker into three Tupi-Guarani languages 37
  8. Part I: Amerindia
  9. Spanish diminutive markers -ito/-ita in Mesoamerican languages: a challenge for acceptance of gender distinction 71
  10. Part II: Austronesia
  11. Part II: Austronesia
  12. Survival in a niche. On gender-copy in Chamorro (and sundry languages) 91
  13. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  14. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  15. Verb morphologies in contact: evidence from the Balkan area* 141
  16. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  17. Romani in contact with Bulgarian and Greek: replication in verbal morphology 163
  18. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  19. Morphology in language contact: verbal loanblend formation in Asia Minor Greek (Aivaliot)* 177
  20. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  21. Mood meets mood: Turkic versus Indo-European 195
  22. Part IV: Romance
  23. Part IV: Romance
  24. Contact-induced change in personal pronouns: some Romance examples* 205
  25. Part IV: Romance
  26. The influence of loanwords on Sardinian word formation 227
  27. Part IV: Romance
  28. Swinging back the pendulum: French morphology and de-Italianization in Piedmontese 247
  29. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  30. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  31. Contact phenomena in the Slavic of Molise: some remarks about nouns and prepositional phrases* 263
  32. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  33. Language contact, language decay and morphological change: evidence from the speech of Czech immigrants in Paraguay* 283
  34. Part VI: Africa
  35. Part VI: Africa
  36. Roots and patterns in Beja (Cushitic): the issue of language contact with Arabic 309
  37. Part VI: Africa
  38. Back Matter 327
https://doi.org/10.1524/9783050057699.283

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter 1
  2. Preface 9
  3. Part I: Amerindia
  4. Part I: Amerindia
  5. Morphologies in contact: form, meaning, and use in the grammar of reference 13
  6. Part I: Amerindia
  7. Borrowing of a Cariban number marker into three Tupi-Guarani languages 37
  8. Part I: Amerindia
  9. Spanish diminutive markers -ito/-ita in Mesoamerican languages: a challenge for acceptance of gender distinction 71
  10. Part II: Austronesia
  11. Part II: Austronesia
  12. Survival in a niche. On gender-copy in Chamorro (and sundry languages) 91
  13. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  14. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  15. Verb morphologies in contact: evidence from the Balkan area* 141
  16. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  17. Romani in contact with Bulgarian and Greek: replication in verbal morphology 163
  18. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  19. Morphology in language contact: verbal loanblend formation in Asia Minor Greek (Aivaliot)* 177
  20. Part III: Balkan (and beyond)
  21. Mood meets mood: Turkic versus Indo-European 195
  22. Part IV: Romance
  23. Part IV: Romance
  24. Contact-induced change in personal pronouns: some Romance examples* 205
  25. Part IV: Romance
  26. The influence of loanwords on Sardinian word formation 227
  27. Part IV: Romance
  28. Swinging back the pendulum: French morphology and de-Italianization in Piedmontese 247
  29. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  30. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  31. Contact phenomena in the Slavic of Molise: some remarks about nouns and prepositional phrases* 263
  32. Part V: Slavic (outside the Slavic core area)
  33. Language contact, language decay and morphological change: evidence from the speech of Czech immigrants in Paraguay* 283
  34. Part VI: Africa
  35. Part VI: Africa
  36. Roots and patterns in Beja (Cushitic): the issue of language contact with Arabic 309
  37. Part VI: Africa
  38. Back Matter 327
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