To appear in Constructions in Contact 2: Language change, multilingual practices, and additional language acquisition eds. Höder, S. & Boas, H. Title: Non-Dravidian elements and (non)diasystematic change in Malayalam Savithry Namboodiripad (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
[email protected] Abstract: This chapter applies a Diasystematic Construction Grammar (DCxG) approach to account for non-Dravidian vocabulary and phonology in Malayalam, a high-contact Dravidian language. The distinction made in DCxG between diaconstructions, which are language non-specific, and idioconstructions, which are language-specific, proves useful in accounting for semantic specialization and phonological heterogeneity due to language contact. Notably, increased contact with English has led in some cases to decreased phonological adaptation, as some constructions change from diaconstructions to idioconstructions: Non-diasystematic change. Taken together, this chapter argues that any analysis of Malayalam must account for non-Dravidian subpatterns, and including language labels as part of speakers' linguistic knowledge enhances our understanding of the dynamics of language contact. Keywords: Malayalam, English, language contact, language change, semantic specialization, loanword adaptation, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics 1 High-contact languages are not categorically different By introducing a distinction between diaconstructions, which are language non-specific, and idioconstructions, which are language-specific, Diasystematic Construction Grammar (DCxG) captures the fact that borders between languages, while often blurred, also shape language use (Höder 2012). Building on other construction-theoretic approaches, DCxG characterizes all languages as consisting of emergent subpatterns of constructions. This includes hybrid or high-contact languages, which differ only in that those subpatterns can be attributed (by analysts, not necessarily speakers) as belonging to a particular language.