A unified approach to language contact: From milliseconds to centuries
Evangelia Adamou, French National Center for Scientific Research
The bilingual speaker is considered to be the starting point of language contact changes since Weinreich (1953) and Haugen (1953), a view that is still accepted in the literature (e.g., Kootstra & Muysken, 2017; Zenner et al., 2019; Adamou & Matras, 2021). Yet, very few studies investigate these two levels jointly. In this talk, I illustrate how we can integrate advances in the field of bilingualism with the study of language contact and combine methodologies from the two fields.
First, I will discuss the role of cross-language priming in the ongoing change noted among speakers of Romani (Indic) at the level of adjective-noun order. I will draw evidence from two collaborative studies relying on the analysis of a dialectological database, a free-speech corpus, and three experiments—ranging from production, to eye tracking, and acceptability judgments (Adamou et al., 2021; Arslan et al., 2022).
I will then present data from two corpus and two experimental studies exploring a conventionalized form of codeswitching where L2 verbs retain L2 morphology (i.e., person, TAM, and valency) together with L1-Romani pronouns, nouns, and verbs (Adamou & Granqvist, 2015; Adamou & Shen, 2019). The experimental findings point toward fine-grained differences in processing costs and illustrate a potential pathway from codeswitching to fully-fledged mixed languages.
Taken together, the above studies demonstrate that speakers’ language behavior is adaptive to their complex bilingual experience and can lead to language change in the long run (Adamou, 2021).
References
Adamou, E. (2021). The Adaptive Bilingual Mind: Insights from Endangered Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Adamou, E., Feltgen, Q., & Padure, C. (2021). A unified approach to the study of language contact: Cross-language priming and change in adjective/noun order. International Journal of Bilingualism, 25, 1635–1654.https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069211033909
Adamou, E., & Granqvist, K. (2015). Unevenly mixed Romani languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19, 525–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006914524645
Adamou, E., & Matras, Y., eds. (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Language Contact. London: Routledge.
Adamou, E., & Shen, X. R. (2019). There are no language switching costs when codeswitching is frequent. International Journal of Bilingualism, 23, 53–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006917709094
Arslan, S., Miric, M., Cirkovic, S., Padure, C. & Adamou, E. (2022). Does cross-language priming facilitate language change? Eye-tracking evidence from Romani-Romanian and Romani-Serbian bilinguals. 55th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea, University of Bucharest, Aug 24–27, 2022.
Haugen, E. (1953 [1969]). The Norwegian Language in the Americas: A Study of Bilingual Behaviour. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Kootstra, G. J., & Muysken, P. C. (2017). Cross-linguistic priming in bilinguals: Multidisciplinary perspectives on language processing, acquisition, and change (Introduction to special issue). Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 215–218. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916001127.
Weinreich, U. (1953 [1968]). Languages in Contact. The Hague: Mouton.
Zenner, E., Backus, A., & Winter-Froemel, E. (eds.). (2019). Cognitive Contact Linguistics: Placing Usage, Meaning and Mind at the Core of Contact-Induced Variation and Change. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
