Hauptseminar Languages in Contact

Contact between languages is an almost universal phenomenon. However, there are a multitude of contact types and these have different effects on the languages in the contact situation. Furthermore, if unusual phenomena exist in a language there is a tendency for linguists to posit language contact as the reason for their origin. The intention of the present seminar will then be to look at representative cases of contact and to weigh up the evidence for contact as the source for features in modern languages. The sociolinguistic situation of languages in contact will also be given considerable attention. The data for the seminar will come from three main sources: (i) language contact in the history of English, (ii) language contact betweeen English and a further language in the present-day world and (iii) contact between different dialects and varieties of English within the anglophone world. Literature Filppula, Markku, Juhani Klemola and Heli Pitkänen (eds) 2002. The Celtic roots of English. Studies in Languages 37. Joensuu: University Press. Filppula, Markku, Juhani Klemola and Heli Pitkänen (eds) 2008. English and Celtic in contact. London: Routledge. Fisiak, Jacek (ed.) 1995. Linguistic change under contact conditions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2008. Language Evolution: Contact, competition and change. London: Continuum Press. Myers-Scotton, Carol 2002. Contact linguistics. Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes. Oxford: University Press. Thomason, Sarah G. (ed.) 1997. Contact languages. A wider perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Thomason, Sarah G. 2001. Language Contact: An Introduction. Edinburgh: University Press. Winford, Donald 2003. An introduction to contact linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell. Anglistik Universität Duisburg-Essen SS 2009 Master, Master Professor Hickey Raymond