Language contact, maintenance, and death

Question 1

What is a bilingual speaker?

Answer 1

2 languages fluently

Question 2

What is multilingualism?

Answer 2

broad term to refer to somebody who speaks 2 or more.

Question 3

How many official languages in NZ?

Answer 3

3 - English, Te Reo, NZSL

Question 4

how many languages and people in Papua new Guinea?

Answer 4

840 languages

8.8 million people

Question 5

What type of linguistic community is in the Vaupes river?

Answer 5

Obligatory linguistic exogamy

Question 6

Effects of multilingualism (3)

Answer 6

Phonological effects: foreign accents
Grammatical effects: learner errors
Lexical effects: words may have different range of meaning

Question 7

What is convergence and where does it occur?

Answer 7

languages influencing each other mutually in a stable multilingual environment

Question 8

What is the difference between convergence and interference?

Answer 8

Interference: at the individual level
Convergence: at the level of whole languages

Question 9

Types of change in comparative method (3)

Answer 9

Lenition: consonants become weaker
Assimilation: sounds become more similar to nearby sounds
Majority principle

Question 10

Types of lenition(3)

Answer 10

Stops > fricatives > glides > nothing
voiceless consonants > voiced consonants
oral consonants > glottal consonants

Question 11

What is diglossia?

Answer 11

2 forms of a language, each used in a specific context

eg. liturgical, classical, local

Question 12

What is it called when two speakers share two or more languages and can use them interchangeably in a conversation?

Answer 12

Code-switching

Question 13

Examples of phonological convergence (3)

Answer 13

Retroflex stops in Indian subcontinent
Uvular trill in northern European languages.
Rounded front vowels in Northern European languages.

Question 14

What is calquing?

Answer 14

When multiple languages (neighbouring) share morphological and syntactic structure but not lexical meaning.

Question 15

What is Sprachbund?

Answer 15

Linguistic areas:

When a group of languages from different families converge.

Question 16

What are causes of pidgins?

Answer 16

Colonial expansion
Used in communication between groups with no lingua franca
Slave trade
Labourers

Question 17

What is language shift?

Answer 17

language shift: speakers stop their heritage language and switch to colonial language.

Question 18

What is a lingua franca?

Answer 18

commonly spoken language

Question 19

What English word is “pidgin” derived from?

Answer 19

business

Question 20

What is a pidgin formed of? (3)

Answer 20

Colonial language environment (lingua franca)
Lexifier/Superstrate
Substrate

Question 21

What is a creole?

Answer 21

A full language that derives from a pidgin.

2nd/3rd generation of native pidgin speakers

Question 22

Give an example of a Creole continuum.

Answer 22

Jamaican accented English > Jamaican Patois

Question 23

What is verbal hygiene?

Answer 23

Attitude towards ‘proper’ speaking of language

prescriptive ‘rules’

Question 24

What are the steps towards language death?

Answer 24

Language endangerment
Obsolescence
Death

Question 25

How many of the 6000-7000 languages of today will likely die in 100 years?

Answer 25

60-80%

Question 26

Motivation for shift (4)

Answer 26

Political
Economic
Social values
Decline in domains of use

Question 27

How can we discern language endangerment? (3)

Answer 27

Number of speakers
Mean age of native and/or fluent speakers
* Percentage of youngest generation acquiring fluency

Question 28

How to maintain and revitalize languages (4)

Answer 28

1. Extend domains in which it is possible to use the language
2. Create dictionaries, readers, learning materials
3. Speakers must have a good attitude
4. Visibility of language