journal of language contact 9 (2016) 543-571 brill.com/jlc Language Mixture, Contact and Semiotic Dynamics: Some Thoughts in Counterpoint to Schuchardt’s Approach1 Robert Nicolaï Institut Universitaire de France, Laboratoire d’Histoire des Théories Linguistiques (cnrs, Paris)
[email protected] Abstract This paper compares the conceptual framework of Schuchardt’s perspective on lan- guage mixing (or at least my representation of it) with that of ‘semiotic dynamics’ as presented in several of my earlier works (Nicolaï, 2011, 2012a). These two approaches entail a same interest in the activities of individuals and groups (communication actors, etc.) who, in their ordinary usage, produce and transform languages. Thus the framework of semiotic dynamics introduces conceptualizations, obviously developed independently of the process which « Slawo-deutsches und Slawo-italienisches » exem- plifies, but which, despite differing trajectories, intersects with it. This intersection justifies my assertion as to the work’s modernity and the usefulness of reviewing it. At the same time, this review broadens the scope of research and reflections in this field. In counterpoint, I will look into the justified (or not) propensity of scholars and documenters to consider a priori the objects-languages with which they work as con- stitutively homogeneous entities, albeit subject to modification and transformation by a (contingent) contact situation. Keywords Language contact – dynamics of language – semiotic dynamics – language mixture – Schuchardt 1 My thanks to Margaret Duhnam for her English translation of this paper and to Mirko Radenkovic (S&F) for his English translation of the German quotations from Schuchardt. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi 10.1163/19552629-00903005Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021 12:22:28AM via free access <UN> 544 Nicolaï 1 Back to the 19th Century.