LanLangguaguageess iinn ContactContact RaymondRaymond HicHickkey,ey, EnEngglishlish LiLinnguisticguisticss,, CampCampuuss EEssssenen — CCoontactntact ScenaScenarriosios inin thethe AnglophoneAnglophone WorldWorld — Divisions by region The British Isles United States Historical contact African American English England Chicano English Wales German-influenced English Scotland Cajun English (Lower South of US) Ireland Canada Newfoundland English (dialect contact) Europe English in Quebec (contact with French) Malta South Africa South Asia Afrikaans English Pakistan English South African Indian English Indian English South-East Asia Singapore, Malaysia Hong Kong Australia The Philippines AborginalEnglish New Zealand Maori English GeneralGeneral remarksremarks onon LangLanguuageage ccoontactntact Contact: Some preliminary distinctions 1)Language contact is really contact between speakers of different languages. 2)The term language is an abstraction from a certain type of human behaviourinvolving sounds in specific sequences 3)Contact can be motivated by necessity (filling of lexical gaps, new terms for new phenomena, e.g. scientific inventions) but can also be the result of prestige, or just a passing fashion, as with the many borrowings from English which are not strictly speaking needed by the modern European languages which have them. Contact situations One-way borrowing Receiving language < Donor language Language shift Original language abandoned > All speakers shift to new language Language convergence One or more languages become more similar through borrowing in both directions Linguistic levels and contact Linguistic levels and contact Levels most affected Vocabulary (loanwords, phrases) Sentence structure, word-order Speech habits (general pronunciation, Suprasegmentals[stress, intonation]) Sounds (present in loan-words) Grammar (morphology: inflections) Levels least affected HistorHistoriicalcal ccoontactntact sscenarcenariios,os, 11 HistorHistoriicalcal ccoontactntact sscenarcenariios,os, 22 SomeSome tentativetentative cconclusionsonclusions Language contact can cause considerable structural change if it is very intense. Language shift is a special situation which leads to the transfer of speech habits from the source to the target language. Such features can remain in the target language forming a variety which is seen by later generations as part of their identity. Contacts scenarios with relatively stable bilingualism n English in Quebec n Chicano English n Maltese English Contacts scenarios with language shift n Irish English n Scottish English n South African Indian English n AborginalEnglish n Maori English Contact scenarios where the outset language is no longer present n German-influenced English in the US n Other minor varieties where the original language from a shift situation is no longer present (in Cornwall or on the Isle of Man) or whether previous generations of immigrants abandoned their background language entirely. England: contact throughout history England: contact throughout history Pre-Old English Before the English came to England in the mid 5th century there had been contact with other languages on the continent. Several words were borrowed from Latin, e.g. cheese, street, wine. These indicate that the Germanic peoples were involved in trade the Romans at the time. England: contact throughout history Old English When the Germanic tribes came to England in the 5th century they came into contact the British Celtic tribes who were already living in the country. However, few words were borrowed from these groups. With the Christianisation of England in the 7th century (after 597) many words related to church matters were taken from Latin. The Viking invasions, mainly in the 9th century, led to everyday words Old Norse entering northern dialects of English and then spreading to the south. England: contact throughout history Middle English This period opens with the Norman invasion of England in 1066. With that the French influence on the English language began. First with words from Anglo-Norman (spoken by the invaders), later one from Central French (the form of language found in writing). French loanwords are still obvious today and occupy a stylistically higher register than inherited Germanic words. England: contact throughout history Early Modern English This begins around 1500 and continues until about 1800 after which one has the Late Modern English period. Many loanwords were taken from the classical languages Latin and Greek (from their written forms, of course) to render terms for all the new developments in science. Furthermore, many words were created to fill lexical gaps, i.e. points in the vocabulary of the language where words were missing or the existing ones inappropriate. Examples are marine, aquatic, equestrian, pedestrian, etc. All these were formed by used classical stems. There are still found today, e.g. marine life, pedestrian zone, etc. England: contact throughout history Present-day English Although English is the chief donor of words to all the world‘s languages, it still continues to borrow words from others. There are some 20th century loans from German, e.g. Schadenfreude, Ersatz or the loan translation an own goal from Eigentor. From words came via Yiddish, e.g. schmooze `chat, gossip´or schlock `trash´. Words from French continue to enter the language, especially in certain areas such as fashion or cuisine. Wales Wales Contact with English in Wales goes back to the Old English period when the Germanic tribes were in contact with the Celtic tribes living in the west of Britain. This contact continues to this day in many parts of Wales, in rural areas, but also cities like Swansea in the south. Many Welsh are bilingual, using Welsh in a domestic or familiar context and English on more official occasions. This situation is known as diglossia. Scotland Scotland The English language in Scotland was brought to the Lowlands as the Anglian dialect in the Old English period. In the course of time this developed into Scots which still exists and which is quite different from forms of English further south. To the north, in the highlands, and in the west, on the islands, Scottish Gaelic was and is spoken. Here English is in contact with the Celtic language and the latter has influenced the type of English spoken there. English was also in contact with forms of Old Norse, especially on the Orkney and Shetland Islands in the far north. Ireland Ireland English language was brought to Ireland, to the east of the country, in the late 12th century. From the beginning it was in competition with both Norman French and Irish. In the course of the following centuries it retreated and it was not until the 17th century that it came to dominate the entire country. In addition, Scots settled in Ulster and a form of their language, Ulster Scots, developed there. The later history of Ireland is characterised by the shift from Irish to English and the forms of the latter language have been influenced by the Celtic language. Malta Maltese English The small island of Malta in the central-east Mediterranean Sea was a British colony for a considerable time and the English language managed to catch a foothold there. In addition there is Maltese, a form of Arabic which has been strongly influenced by Italian. Today, English is used widely on Malta, along with Maltese, which has influenced it on all levels of language. The United States The United States: African American English English came to North America in the 17th century, first to the north-east of the later United States and later spread to the south and east. During the period of slavery (17th to mid 19th century) many Africans were brought via the Caribbean or directly from Africa. The forms of English they acquired on the cotton plantations led to pidgins and later possibly a creole (the native language of later generations). The input of English dialects to African American English in its formative period should not be estimated. The United States: Chicano English The immigrants from Mexico and other parts of Central America settled largely in the south-west of the United States. The form of English they came to speak is called Chicano English and clearly shows the influence of Spanish. Many other Spanish immigrants also came from other countries, from Puerto Rico (a Caribbean island) and from parts of South America. These people are known collectively as Hispanics. The United States: German-influenced English Many of the millions of 18th and 19th century European immigrants to the United States were from Germany. Some emigrated for religious reasons, e.g. the Amish of Pennsylvania who formed their own communities in this state. Germans settled throughout the entire country, e.g. in the Mid-West, in states like Wisconsin. Recent work has shown that there are traces of German pronunciation in the English spoken there, for instance in the devoicing of final consonsants. The United States: Cajun English The United States: Cajun English The United States: Cajun English The Cajuns are the descendents of French-speaking Acadians from New Brunswick in Canada. There were expelled by the British in 1755 after refusing to swear allegiance to the English crown. A few thousand left Canada settling in southern Louisana. The Cajuns community has both French and English speakers. The forms of English have been influence by French which has survived to this day. Apart from Cajun French there is also a variety called Louisana French Creole Canada Quebec