Search Results (92)

This paper creates a global similarity network between city-level dialects of English in order to determine whether external factors like the amount of population contact or language contact influence dialect similarity. While previous computational work has focused on external influences that contribute to phonological or lexical similarity, this paper focuses on grammatical variation as operationalized in computational construction grammar. Social media data was used to create comparable English corpora from 256 cities across 13 countries. Each sample is represented using the type frequency of various constructions. These frequency representations are then used to calculate pairwise similarities between city-level dialects; a prediction-based evaluation shows that these similarity values are highly accurate. Linguistic similarity is then compared with four external factors: (i) the amount of air travel between cities, a proxy for population contact, (ii) the difference in the linguistic landscapes of each city, a proxy for language contact, (iii) the geographic distance between cities, and (iv) the presence of political boundaries separating cities. The results show that, while all these factors are significant, the best model relies on language contact and geographic distance. Full article

Falkland Islands English (FIE) began its development in the first half of the 19th century. In part, as a consequence of its youth, FIE is an understudied variety. It shares some morphosyntactic features with other anglophone countries in the Southern Hemisphere, but it also shares lexical features with regional varieties of Spanish, including Rioplatense Spanish. Che is one of many South American words that have entered FIE through Spanish, with its spelling ranging from “chay” and “chey” to “ché”. The word has received some marginal attention in terms of its meaning. It is said to be used in a similar way to the British dear or love and the Australian mate, and it has been compared to chum or pal, and is taken as an equivalent of the River Plate, hey!, hi!, or I say!. In this work, we explore the hypothesis that che entered FIE through historical contact with Rioplatense Spanish, drawing on both linguistic and sociohistorical evidence, and presenting survey, corpus, and ethnographic data that illustrate its current vitality, usage, and social meanings among FIE speakers. In situ observations, fieldwork, and an online survey were used to look into the vitality of che. Concomitantly, by crawling social media and the local press, enough data was gathered to build a small corpus to further study its vitality. A thorough literature review was conducted to hypothesise about the borrowing process involving its entry into FIE. The findings confirm that the word is primarily a vocative, it is commonly used, and it is indicative of a sense of belonging to the Falklands community. Although there is no consensus on the origin of che in the River Plate region, it seems to be the case that it entered FIE during the intense Spanish–English contact that took place during the second half of the 19th century. Full article

Research on language contact outcomes, such as code-switching, continues to face theoretical and methodological challenges, particularly due to the difficulty of comparing findings across studies that use divergent data collection methods. Accordingly, scholars have emphasized the need for publicly available and comparable bilingual corpora. This paper introduces the El Paso Bilingual Corpus, a new Spanish–English bilingual corpus recorded in El Paso (TX) in 2022, designed to be methodologically comparable to the Bangor Miami Corpus. The paper is structured in three main sections. First, we review the existing Spanish–English corpora and examine the theoretical challenges posed by studies using non-comparable methodologies, thereby underscoring the gap addressed by the El Paso Bilingual Corpus. Second, we outline the corpus creation process, discussing participant recruitment, data collection, and transcription, and provide an overview of these data, including participants’ sociolinguistic profiles. Third, to demonstrate the practical value of methodologically aligned corpora, we report a comparative case study on diminutive expressions in the El Paso and Bangor Miami corpora, illustrating how shared collection protocols can elucidate the role of community-specific social factors on bilinguals’ morphosyntactic choices. Full article

This study provides a comprehensive philological analysis of ten Old Uyghur manuscript fragments of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra (Lotus Sutra) in the Berlin Turfan Collection, while systematically examining all extant Old Uyghur Lotus Sutra manuscripts to establish a complete corpus for comparative analysis. By collating this complete corpus with Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation, this research demonstrates a typology of Old Uyghur Lotus Sutra fragments. It identifies at least two distinct translation lineages: (1) early translations (pre-10th century) exhibiting lexical and structural divergences indicative of Sogdian mediation or hybrid source traditions, and (2) late translations (11th–14th centuries) directly derived from the Chinese version, characterized by syntactic fidelity and a standardized terminology. Through comparative textual analysis, orthographic scrutiny, and terminological cross-referencing, this paper aims to reconstruct the historical trajectory of the Lotus Sutra’s transmission. In addition, it discusses some facts indicating linguistic and cultural contact between the Sogdians and the progressive alignment of Uyghur Buddhist texts with Chinese Buddhist traditions. Full article

Through the testimony of a Tangier female citizen who grew up in the “prolific multilingual Spanish-French-Darija context of international Tangier”, this article analyzes the web of beliefs projected onto both the inherited and local languages within her linguistic repertoire. Starting from the daily realities in which she was immersed and the social networks that she formed, we focus on the representations of communication and her affective relationship with the host societies. The analysis starts from the most immediate domestic context in which Spanish, in its variant Jaquetía (a dialect of Judeo-Spanish language spoken by the Sephardic Jews of northern Morocco) was displaced by French as the language of instruction. After an initial episode of reversible attrition, we witnessed various phenomena of translanguaging within the host society. Following the binomial “emotion-interrelational space”, we seek to discern the affective contexts associated with the languages of a multilingual childhood, and which emotional links are vital for maintaining inherited ones. This shift towards the valuation of the affective culture implies a reorientation of the gaze towards everyday experiences as a means of research in contexts of language contact. Full article

This paper investigates transgenerational change in the use of formal address forms among Polish heritage speakers in Germany by analyzing their language attitudes and usage preferences. The survey-based study involved 100 bilingual Polish speakers with a migration background, including both late and early immigrants vs. representatives of the first and second generations, respectively. The survey included two parts: (1) a questionnaire assessing language attitudes toward formal address systems in Polish and German, respectively, and (2) an Acceptability Judgment Task evaluating respondents’ preferences for different address variants, including contact-induced hybrid forms, in simulated communicative situations. By comparing language attitudes and usage preferences among heritage speakers, the study seeks to identify mechanisms of transgenerational change in pragmatics of their heritage language. The findings reveal a discrepancy between language attitudes and actual language use by heritage speakers. While respondents recognize asymmetries between Polish and German formal address systems, their usage preferences align predominantly with the Polish monolingual norm, particularly in perceptually oriented tasks. However, the emergence of hybrid forms of formal address suggests a gradual shift toward increased tolerance and acceptance of contact-induced variations. This finding supports the hypothesis that pragmatics, like other linguistic levels, undergoes a transgenerational shift in migration settings, with language attitudes serving as earlier indicators of change. Full article

This paper presents a comprehensive synchronic and diachronic analysis of the Sino-Vietnamese negative prefixes bất (Chinese 不 bù), vô (無 wú), and phi (非 fēi), examining their historical development and modern usage in Vietnamese, with a comparative perspective on their Chinese equivalents. By investigating the interaction between these prefixes and Vietnamese sentential negators—such as the native chẳng and the Chinese-derived không—the study explores the evolution of negation in Vietnamese over several centuries. The research draws on a corpus of three bilingual Classical Chinese–Vietnamese translations of Confucius’s Analects from the 17th, 19th, and 21st centuries, two written in traditional Nôm script and one in the modern Quốc ngữ alphabet. This corpus provides valuable insights into linguistic shifts driven by language contact in Vietnam. The findings reveal that in the 17th century, the Sino-Vietnamese prefixes bất, vô, and phi were largely absent, with native chẳng dominating. By the 19th century, chẳng persisted, but không emerged as a sentential negator, and bất appeared, both reflecting Chinese forms and demonstrating innovative uses. In the 21st century, không became the dominant negator, with bất and vô seeing increased usage, reflecting broader trends of linguistic modernization. This study situates these changes within the broader context of 20th-century East Asian literacy expansion, where Japan played a pivotal role in disseminating modernized Chinese-based vocabulary. By examining the selective adaptation and integration of Sino-Vietnamese elements, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of language contact, syntactic influence, and lexical innovation in the evolving Vietnamese lexicon. Full article

Background: Multicultural education and second-language acquisition engaged neural networks, supporting executive function, memory, and social cognition in adulthood, represent powerful forms of brain-inspired multisensory learning. The neuroeducational framework integrates neuroscience with pedagogical practice to understand how linguistically and culturally rich environments drive neuroplasticity and cognitive adaptation in adult learners. Objective: This systematic review synthesizes findings from 80 studies examining neuroplasticity and cognitive outcomes in adults undergoing multicultural and second-language acquisition, focusing on underlying neural mechanisms and educational effectiveness. Methods: The analysis included randomized controlled trials and longitudinal studies employing diverse neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MEG, DTI) to assess structural and functional brain network changes. Interventions varied in terms of immersion intensity (ranging from limited classroom contact to complete environmental immersion), multimodal approaches (integrating visual, auditory, and kinesthetic elements), feedback mechanisms (immediate vs. delayed, social vs. automated), and learning contexts (formal instruction, naturalistic acquisition, and technology-enhanced environments). Outcomes encompassed cognitive domains (executive function, working memory, attention) and socio-emotional processes (empathy, cultural adaptation). Results: Strong evidence demonstrates that multicultural and second-language acquisition induce specific neuroplastic adaptations, including enhanced connectivity between language and executive networks, increased cortical thickness in frontal–temporal regions, and white matter reorganization supporting processing efficiency. These neural changes are correlated with significant improvements in working memory, attentional control, and cognitive flexibility. Immersion intensity, multimodal design features, learning context, and individual differences, including age and sociocultural background, moderate the effectiveness of interventions across adult populations. Conclusions: Adult multicultural and second-language acquisition represents a biologically aligned educational approach that leverages natural neuroplastic mechanisms to enhance cognitive resilience. Findings support the design of interventions that engage integrated neural networks through rich, culturally relevant environments, with significant implications for cognitive health across the adult lifespan and for evidence-based educational practice. Full article

From the late 19th to the early 20th century, Argentina experienced a wave of mass migration due to political, economic, and social instability in Europe. This study examines how idiomatic expressions in Argentine Spanish incorporate Italianisms and Rioplatense slang (lunfardismos), focusing on linguistic contact, transcoding, and performativity. The integration of these lexical and phraseological elements occurred through direct borrowings, phraseological calques, and neological formations influenced by both languages, shaped by continuous interactions between immigrant and local communities. Based on a corpus of 179 phraseological units (PUs) from the Diccionario fraseológico del habla argentina. Frases, dichos y locuciones (DiFHA), compiled by Barcia and Pauer, the study analyzes semantic and structural changes resulting from this exchange. The findings highlight linguistic contact, reflecting the interaction between Italian and Rioplatense Spanish; transcoding, illustrating the adaptation of linguistic elements to a new sociocultural context; and performativity, demonstrating how these expressions acquire distinct meanings in daily communication. By examining these phraseological units, the research reveals how language embodies Argentina’s migratory and cultural history, showing how linguistic contact enriches communication and identity through the interaction of different communities. Full article

This study investigates the development of the lateral fricatives and affricates, to which we jointly refer as ‘lateral obstruents’, in Nguni (S40) languages of Southern Africa. These lateral obstruents, which include /ɬ, ⁿɬ, ɮ, ⁿɮ, k͡ʟ̝̊/, are rare in the Bantu language family, and are not reconstructed for Proto-Bantu. Lateral obstruents are also rare cross-linguistically. They do occur, however, in four sub-branches of Southern Bantu: Shona, Sotho-Tswana, Nguni, and Tsonga. In this paper, we study how Southern Bantu could have acquired such a large inventory of cross-linguistically rare phonemes by investigating their development in Nguni languages, a large but closely related cluster of languages in which lateral obstruents are very frequent. We analyze published data from nine Nguni languages, including languages for which the only available descriptions are dated or of limited scope, in which case we carefully assess the data and their analysis. On the basis of this large database, we show which lateral obstruents are used in Nguni, and the vocabulary in which they occur. Applying the Comparative Method, we show that alveolar lateral obstruents can be reconstructed to Proto-Nguni, where they are the regular reflex of Proto-Bantu palatals *c and *j. The velar lateral affricate, in contrast, cannot be reconstructed to Proto-Nguni, and finds its origin in loanwords, for example, from Khoe languages, where it is used as a click replacement strategy. As a result, we conclude that both inheritance and contact played a role in the development of lateral obstruents in Nguni, likely combined in the case of alveolar lateral obstruents. In order to better understand the contact history, we evaluate existing hypothesized contact scenarios to account for the presence of lateral obstruents in Southern Bantu or Nguni. Given that alveolar lateral obstruents result from a regular sound change, contact does not seem to be as prominent in the development of lateral obstruents as has been proposed before in the literature. This study lays the groundwork for future research into lateral obstruents in Southern Bantu. Full article

The Zuiderzee area in the Netherlands is a former inlet sea at the heart of the crossroads of three major regional languages. While these regional languages are largely distinct, previous work by the dialectologist Kloeke indicated similarities due to contact over water, notably the realisation of the Proto-West Germanic vowels *ā and *a. Using various dialectometric methods, we analysed the distribution of these vowels for 121 localities in this region. Specifically, we tried to determine the dialectal landscape more thoroughly, find instances that illustrate cultural diffusion and migration, and evaluate the overall relationship between distance over water and vowel variations. Using a Bayesian population genetic method, admixture, we distinguished nine linguistically explainable clusters, demonstrating its potential. Moreover, we found evidence of cultural diffusion conforming to the overall presence of three different regional languages. Additionally, we employed the so-called matrix method in linear-mixed effects regression to demonstrate that the geographic distance helped to explain the geographic patterns of vowel variation. The distance over water was as effective a measure as the distance over land. We expect this to be common in areas with a history of intensive and sustained shipping traffic. Full article

The role of background knowledge in human intelligence, knowledge, and consciousness has been a topic of discussion among several philosophers, including Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Searle, Martin Heidegger, and Hubert Dreyfus. Hubert Dreyfus criticizes what he calls the mediational approach and offers the contact theory to clarify the concept within his theoretical framework. In alignment with Heidegger’s existential phenomenological perspective, he posits that our contact and our embodied coping with the world constitute a background by which we become acquainted with preunderstanding that encompasses both prelinguistic and pre-propositional understandings. In this article, Dreyfus’s analysis of background knowledge is criticized by focusing on his latest writings. It is argued that, although Dreyfus claims to be defending horizontal foundationalism rather than vertical foundationalism, he primarily emphasizes the foundational nonlinguistic role of motor intentionality in absorbed coping. Furthermore, it is asserted that nonlinguistic embodied coping alone cannot provide the basis for linguistic communication and a humanly way of understanding. Rather than serving as a foundation, embodied coping is more appropriately situated within a linguistic context, because we perform deeds with words. Full article

This study investigates the interplay between linguistic and extralinguistic factors in language contact scenarios, focusing on inner Asia Minor Greek (iAMGr), a dialect cluster influenced by Turkish and isolated from other Greek-speaking regions. Using dialectometric techniques, we quantified the dialect distances—encompassing both grammatical and lexical features, many of which reflect foreign interference—between nineteen iAMGr varieties. A regression analysis was then employed to evaluate the impact of geographic, demographic, and other macro-social factors on these distances. The results reveal distinct patterns. The grammatical features show a substantial divergence between communities, linked to structural borrowing and primarily influenced by the dominant group’s population size and degree of contact (low- vs. high-contact variety types). In contrast, lexical features exhibit greater convergence, primarily influenced by geography, linked to the susceptibility of lexical borrowing to casual contact. Unlike previous dialectometric studies that report a strong correlation between geographic and dialect distances, our findings suggest that geography’s influence varies by linguistic level, being more pronounced in lexical distances. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that certain dialect-specific factors previously identified in qualitative studies on iAMGr are statistically insignificant. The study concludes that, while geography remains relevant, macro-social factors often play a more critical role in language contact settings, particularly in shaping grammatical distances. These findings provide new insights into the determinants of dialect distances in such contexts. Full article

This research provides a systematic reconstruction of nine botanical names from the Papuan languages spoken on Alor Island. Although genealogical links among the Papuan Timor–Alor–Pantar languages have been previously investigated, linguistic micro-studies of the hypothesized ‘shared’ ancestor languages within languages of the individual islands remain sparse. This study has three main aims: Firstly, to provide etymological reconstructions of Alor–Pantar Papuan words on a micro-level, focusing on Alor Island and specifically on plant names, which represent a cornerstone of Alor culture and history. Adopting the Comparative Method comparing cognates of 15 local languages, this research postulates historical phonetic shifts and language alignment phenomena and proposes proto-forms of the words in proto-Alor. Secondly, to shed light on possible prehistoric language contact and settlement patterns. A key finding suggests that the initial consonantal shifts *b > b > f > p in the languages is a probable loanword feature originating from the Austronesians. The geographical spread could indicate the influence of external trade and/or settlement patterns within the Papuan populations. Lastly, to provide a backbone for future etymological research on Papuan languages in Alor (and beyond) by mapping out aspects of language origins and phonetic influences and establish features of the shared proto-language(s). Full article

This article presents an updated view of the language history of Vietnamese from its native Austroasiatic roots, including key historical phonological, morphological, and syntactic features and developments; a characterization of its Austroasiatic etyma; and the context of this information in Vietnamese linguistic ethnohistory. It is now possible to make better supported claims and more precise characterizations due to improved understanding of the history of Austroasiatic and Vietic and their reconstructions, the nature and effect of language contact with Chinese, and the process of typological convergence of the ancestral language of Vietnamese. This study shows that, while Vietnamese is not a typologically characteristic Austroasiatic language, the Austroasiatic components of the Vietnamese lexicon and linguistic structure are more prominent than previously supposed. Full article