Languages in Contact: The Partial Restructuring of Vernaculars - Softcover

Holm, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521068371 ISBN 13: 9780521068376

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

There is widespread agreement that certain non-Creole language varieties are structurally quite different from the European languages out of which they grew; however, until recently, linguists have found difficulty in accounting for either their genesis or their synchronic structure. This 2003 study argues that the transmission of source languages from native to non-native speakers led to 'partial restructuring', whereby some of the source languages' morphosyntax was retained, but a significant number of substrate and interlanguage features were also introduced. Comparing languages such as African-American English, Afrikaans and Brazilian Vernacular Portuguese, John Holm identifies the linguistic processes that lead to partial restructuring, bringing into focus a key span on the continuum of contact-induced language change which has not previously been analysed. Informed by the first systematic comparison of the social and linguistic facts in the development of these languages, this book will be welcomed by students of contact linguistics, sociolinguistics and anthropology.

About this title

About the Author

John Holm is Chair, English Linguistics and Director, Graduate Program in Descriptive Linguistics at the University of Coimbra, Portugal.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521068371
• ISBN 13: 9780521068376
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 196