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Languages in Contact

Course Description

The influence of language varieties upon each other in various modes of contact (e.g., literary, immigration, media, bilingualism). The impact of contact on the social functions of language usage and the structure of the languages (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and vocabulary) from borrowing to novel language formation (pidgins and creoles).

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
In general, expectations for graduate students are higher, with more stringent standards for grading. Additional requirements for graduate students will include some combination of the following: (1) additional required reading, including original scholarly research; (2) longer and more complex written assignments, which demonstrate a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of concepts and theoretical issues introduced in the course; (3) in-class presentations; (4) a final research paper, which should include a literature review and conform to professional standards in the discipline in terms of organization, formatting, argumentation, and citations. If undergraduates are also assigned a final research paper, theirs will be shorter and will not require a thorough literature review.

Athena Title

Languages in Contact

Prerequisite

LING 3060 or LING 3150 or LING 3150W or LING 3250

Semester Course Offered

Not offered on a regular basis.

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of this course, you should be able to illustrate how social structures and cultural attitudes impact the speakers usage of languages in contact and the linguistic structures of the languages involved.
  • By the end of this course, you should be able to estimate the social influence of populations in contact based on the lexical and grammatical influence of their languages upon each other.
  • By the end of this course, you should be able to demonstrate the implementation of an appropriate (structural, sociological, psychological, or developmental) framework for examining linguistic data in a particular contact situation (e.g., borrowing, codeswitching, etc.).
  • By the end of this course, you should be able to consolidate linguistic research on language contact in concise, clear language in a format suitable for academic linguistic writing.
  • By the end of this course, you should be able to defend linguistic claims with appropriate supporting data or facts.

Topical Outline

  • 1) Varieties of language contact
  • 2) Social factors impacting languages in contact
  • 3) Borrowing and convergence
  • 4) Bilingualism, diglossia, and codeswitching
  • 5) From language maintenance through language shift to language attrition and death
  • 6) Novel Language Creation: Bilingual Mixed Languages, Pidgins, and Creoles

Syllabus

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