MA Linguistics

This module provides an introduction to the study of language contact both as a process (the processing of different languages by multilingual individuals) and as a result (observed language change over time as a result of multilingual language use). Both aspects will be discussed on the basis of a range of case studies involving languages from around the world and different scenarios of multilingualism.

Please consult course convenor since some background in linguistic analysis is required

The principal aims of the course unit are as follows:

Students will obtain an overview of processes of historical language change and the formation of new languages due to language contact, and of their relation with multilingual language use. They will critically reflect on the concept of “language” as a delimited system, and will learn to analyse relevant aspects of the phonology, grammar and semantics of a range of languages, including non-European ones. 

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• identify the key issues in the study of multilingualism and language contact
• analyse multilingual discourse
• apply a variety of general linguistic descriptive and analytic methods to data examples from a variety of domains: language acquisition, conversation, and language change
• compare and evaluate case studies involving different, including unfamiliar, languages
• link the social factors giving rise to multilingualism and the likely changes to be undergone by languages due to language contact
• critically reflect on the relations between social environment., communicative needs and grammatical categories

Week 1. Introduction

Week 2. Bilingual and second language acquisition: implications for the study of language contact

Week 3. Bilingual language processing

Week 4. Language choice in multilingual societies

Week 5. Language mixing in conversation 1: discourse functions

Week 6. Language mixing in conversation 2: structural aspects

Week 7. Lexical borrowing

Week 8. Grammatical borrowing

Week 9. Linguistic areas

Week 10. Pidgin and creole languages

Week 11. Mixed languages

Week 12. Summary and further discussion

• 2hr weekly lecture (with 3^rd year students)
• 1hr weekly seminar (MA students only)
• Assignment guidance in written form and during consultation hours

By the end of this course students will be able to:

·         understand the role of some key conceptual notions in language contact such as “borrowing”, “code-switching”, and “creole genesis”

·         link historical processes of contact-induced change to the processing of multiple languages by multilingual speakers

·         apply these concepts to data from languages unfamiliar to them

reflect on the implications of linguistic research on multilingualism for policies in multilingual societies

By the end of this course students will be able to:

·         identify patterns in sets of data

·         identify key points in the literature relevant to a given topic, and integrate information from different sources

·         identify conceptual links between synchronic and diachronic phenomena

critically evaluate theoretical claims and sources of data

By the end of this course students will be able to:

•  transcribe and analyse multilingual conversations (depending on choice of assignment)
•  conduct interviews in an intercultural setting (depending on choice of assignment)
• use glosses and translations to analyse structures of unfamiliar languages

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• provide explicit evidence and precise argumentation in written work
• gain an increased appreciation of linguistic and cultural diversity

Presentation with handout and leading a seminar discussion on a topic of choice (can be related to main essay) in weeks 4-9, approx 800 words handout - 25%

One individual essay on a topic of choice to be submitted in week 10 or 11 (date tbc), max. 3,500 words - 75%

• Feedback on seminar contributions
• Individual meetings in consultation hours to discuss choice of topic
• Feedback on presentation / leading seminar discussion, in class and individually in consultation hour
• Written feedback on essay (additional feedback in consultation hour if desired)

Matras, Yaron. 2009. Language contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Winford, Donald. 2003. An introduction to contact linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

Li Wei. ed. 2000. The bilingualism reader. London: Routledge.