Language convergence

Language convergence

Language convergence is a type of contact-induced change whereby languages with many bilingual speakers mutually borrow morphological and syntactic features, making their typology more similar.

A presently occuring example of this is with the Maltese language, where almost all the population of Malta is bilingual in Maltese and English, and often mix the two languages in speech. In addition to this, 66% of the population speaks Italian, and the language is also continuing to influence Maltese. "See Maltese language#Increased Input from English and Italian".

* [http://lings.ln.man.ac.uk/Info/staff/JS/JScon.html The convergence project]
* [http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/SubjectAreas/LinguisticsEnglishLanguage/Research/ConvergenceProject/ School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures, The University of Manchester]

ee also

*Sprachbund
*Language merger
*Linguistic divergence
*Dialect levelling


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Language contact — occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual.[1] …   Wikipedia

  • Language merger — Language merger, in linguistics, is a theoretical phenomenon whereby two or more distinct languages combine to form a single language. It is a controversial concept among linguists, who are divided over whether it represents an actual phenomenon …   Wikipedia

  • Convergence (disambiguation) — Convergence is the approach toward a definite value, a definite point, a common view or opinion, or toward a fixed or equilibrium state.Convergence or convergent may also refer to:*Convergence (Mexico), a political party in Mexico * Convergence… …   Wikipedia

  • Convergence (Net-25 program) — Convergence The Convergence present logo Format Information Created by Net 25 Starring …   Wikipedia

  • Convergence for Friuli — (Convergence pal Friûl, Convergenza per il Friuli, CpF) is an green centrist regionalist political party active in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Its leader is Sergio Cecotti, mayor of Udine. Sergio Cecotti was elected mayor of Udine in 1998 for Lega… …   Wikipedia

  • Language family — See also: List of language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto language of that family. The term family comes from the tree model of language origination in… …   Wikipedia

  • Kyrgyz language — language name=Kyrgyz nativename= ky. кыргыз тили, قىرعىز ٴتىلى region=Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Xinjiang (China) speakers=3,136,733 (1993) familycolor=Altaic fam1=Altaic [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show… …   Wikipedia

  • Mycenaean Greek language — language name=Mycenaean Greek nativename=Native Name Unknown region=southern Balkans/Crete extinct=12th century BC familycolor=Indo European fam2=Graeco Armenian fam3=Greek fam4=Ancient Greek iso2=ine iso3=gmy script=Linear B Mycenaean is the… …   Wikipedia

  • Norwegian language struggle — The Norwegian language struggle ( målstriden , språkstriden or sprogstriden ) is an ongoing controversy within Norwegian culture and politics related to spoken and written Norwegian. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard… …   Wikipedia

  • Norwegian language conflict — This article is part of the series on: Norwegian language Variants: Official: Bokmål | Nynorsk Unofficial: Riksmål | Landsmål/Høgnorsk Norwegian language …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”