Language Contact 
LIN 393 Fall 2009 LIN 393 Fall 2009 

Instructor: Dr. Pattie Epps 
Email: pepps@mail.utexas.edu 
Office: 506 Calhoun; phone 471-9015 
Office hours: TTh 3:30-5pm 


TTH 11-12:30, CAL 323 
Unique 41610 


In this graduate-level course, we will examine the phenomenon of language contact from both structural 
and sociocultural angles. We will investigate the formation of pidgins, creoles, and koines; 
grammaticalization in response to contact influence; and strategies for tracing borrowing and other contact-
related influences in a given language. We will discuss the concept of a Ôlinguistic areaÕ and look at 
examples of linguistic areas, in particular the VaupŽs region of Amazonia. Finally, we will consider the role 
of discourse strategies and norms, bilingualism, and code-switching, and cultural practices in determining 
the nature of the contact that takes place and its effects on the languages involved. How do shared narrative 
genres and cultural practices transport features across language boundaries? What happens in situations of 
linguistic exogamy Ð where people are culturally required to marry outside their own language group? Why 
do speakers assimilate one feature from a neighboring language into their speech, and not another? What 
causes languages to grow closer and closer together in their grammars, while preserving distinct lexicons? 


Texts: 
Winford, Donald. 2003. An Introduction to Contact Linguistics, Blackwell. 
Other readings (available on Blackboard at http://courses.utexas.edu) 


Requirements: 

¥ 
Four Ôdiscussion write-upsÕ (600-800 words) summarizing main points of the reading for a particular 
day or week, with thoughtful questions and comments. Each write-up should be HANDED IN ON THE 
DAY THE MATERIAL IS DISCUSSED IN CLASS (this will ensure a good basis for class discussions). Write-
ups are due at your discretion, but within 2-3 week intervals; deadlines indicated on the syllabus are 
latest possible dates, not fixed due dates. (25%) 
¥ 
In-class presentations of readings: Students will rotate in presenting summaries for class discussion, 
one per class meeting (ideally should be based on discussion write-up). AIM FOR NO MORE THAN 15 
MINUTES OF ACTUAL PRESENTATION TIME, broken up or followed by discussion. (5%) 
¥ 
Midterm essay (6-8 pages): study of a linguistic area or of the contact phenomena in a particular 
language (25%) 
¥ 
15-20 p. term paper dealing with some aspect of language contact (preliminary version 30%; revised 
version 15%) YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH ME ABOUT THE TOPIC BEFORE NOV. 10. 
Class policies: 
ATTENDANCE AND HOMEWORK SUBMISSION: Please be punctual! Points will be deducted for excessively 
late assignments. Excessive absences will also incur penalties. 
COMMUNICATION AND FEEDBACK 
Announcements will be posted from time to time on Blackboard Ð please check regularly. Particularly 
urgent announcements may be sent to the class by email. Any and all feedback about the class is always 
welcome (structure, assignments, lecture/discussion, etc.). 
SCHOLASTIC (DIS)HONESTY: See the UT website Ð http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php. 
SPECIAL NEEDS: Please let me know of these before the second class meeting; for more information contact 
Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259. 
RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS AND OTHER EXCUSED ABSENCES: Please let me know at least two weeks before a 
deadline (in person and by email). 



Week 1. Basics 

Aug 27. Introduction and syllabus 

Week 2. Languages in contact, speakers in contact 

Sept 1. Language contact: typological questions 

1. 
Winford ch. 1 
2. 
Thomason, Sarah and Terence Kaufman. 1988. ÔThe failure of linguistic constraints on 
interference,Õ ch. 2 of Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics, 12-34. 
Amsterdam: Benjamins. 
3. 
Matras, Yaron. 2007. ÔThe borrowability of structural categories,Õ in Grammatical Borrowing in 
Cross-linguistic Perspective, 31-69. 
Sept 3. Speaker contact: multilingualism 

1. 
Thomason, Sarah. 2001. ÔMultilingualism in nations and individuals,Õ in Language Contact: An 
Introduction, 27-58. Edinburgh Univ. Press. 
2. 
Stenzel, Kristine. 2005. ÔMultilingualism in the NW Amazon, revisited,Õ Memorias del Congreso 
de Idiomas Ind’genas de LatinoamŽrica-II 27-29 Oct. 2005, University of Texas at Austin. 
Week 3. Lexical borrowing 

Sept 8. To borrow or not to borrow 

1. 
Winford ch. 2 
2. 
Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2001. ÔLanguage awareness and correct speech among the Tariana of NW 
Amazonia,Õ Anthropological Linguistics 43.4: 411-430. 
Recommended: 
Heath, Jeffrey. 1981. ÔA case of intensive lexical diffusion: Arnhem Land, Australia.Õ Language 

57.2: 335-367. 
Sept 10. What will be borrowed? 

1. 
Comrie, Bernard. 2000. ÔLanguage contact, lexical borrowing, and semantic fields.Õ In Languages 
in Contact, Gilbers, Nerbonne, and Schaecken (eds), 73-86. Amsterdam-Atlanta GA: Rodopi. 
2. 
Haspelmath, Martin. Forthcoming 2009. ÔLoanword typology: steps toward a systematic cross-
linguistic study of lexical borrowability.Õ Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative 
Handbook. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 
Recommended: 
Wichmann, S¿ren & Jan Wohlgemuth. 2008. ÔLoan verbs in a typological perspective.Õ In: Stolz, 
Thomas, Dik Bakker, and Rosa Salas Palomo (eds.), Aspects of Language Contact. New 
Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Findings with Special Focus on Romancisation 
Processes, pp. 89-121. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 

FIRST DISCUSSION WRITEUP DUE BY 9/8 

Week 4. Areal diffusion 

Sept 15. Linguistic areas 

1. 
Winford ch. 3 
2. 
Campbell, Lyle. 2006. ÔAreal linguistics: a closer scrutiny.Õ In Linguistic Areas: Convergence in 
Historical and Typological Perspective, Yaron Matras, April McMahon, and Nigel Vincent (eds.). 
New York: Palgrave. 
Sept 17. Case-studies 

1. 
Campbell, L., T. Kaufmann, and T. Smith-Stark. 1986. ÔMesoamerica as a linguistic area.Õ 
Language 62.530-70. 
2. 
Gumperz, John and Robert Wilson. 1971. ÔConvergence and creolization: a case from the IndoAryan/
Dravidian border in India.Õ In Pidginization and Creolization of Languages, Dell Hymes 
(ed.), 151-67. CUP. 

Recommended: 
Haspelmath, Martin. 2001. ÔThe European linguistic area: Standard Average European.Õ In 
Language typology and language universals, Haspelmath, Martin; Kšnig, Ekkehard; Oesterreicher, 
Wulf; and Raible, Wolfgang (eds.), 1492Ð1510. Berlin: de Gruyter [HandbŸcher zur Sprach-und 
Kommunikationswissenschaft]. 
Haspelmath, Martin. 2001. ÔThe European linguistic area: Standard Average European.Õ In 
Language typology and language universals, Haspelmath, Martin; Kšnig, Ekkehard; Oesterreicher, 
Wulf; and Raible, Wolfgang (eds.), 1492Ð1510. Berlin: de Gruyter [HandbŸcher zur Sprach-und 
Kommunikationswissenschaft]. 

Week 5. Structural diffusion and language change 

Sept 22. Contact and grammaticalization 

1. 
Ross, Malcolm. 2007. ÔCalquing and metatypyÕ. Journal of Language Contact -Thema 1. 
Published online at www. jlc-journal.org. 
2. 
Heine, Bernd, and Tania Kuteva. 2003. ÔOn contact-induced grammaticalizationÕ. Studies in 
Language 27: 529-572. 
Recommended (particularly for those with little background in grammaticalization): 
Hopper, Paul and Elizabeth Traugott. 2003. ÔSome preliminariesÕ, ch. 1 of Grammaticalization, 1


18. CUP. 
Sept 24. Case studies 

1. 
Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2003. ÔMechanisms of change in areal diffusion: new morphology and 
language contact,Õ Journal of Linguistics 39: 1-29. 
2. 
Enfield, N. J. 2001. ÔOn genetic and areal linguistics in mainland Southeast Asia: parallel 
polyfunctionality of ÔacquireÕ, in Areal diffusion and genetic inheritance: problems in 
comparative linguistics, Aikhenvald and Dixon (eds.), 255-290. OUP. 
SECOND DISCUSSION WRITEUP DUE BY 9/24 

Week 6. Language contact and language history 

Sept 29. Large-scale linguistic areas and linguistic typology 

1. 
Dahl, …sten. 2001. ÔPrinciples of areal typologyÕ. In Language Typology and Language 
Universals, Haspelmath, M. et al (eds), 1456-70. Berlin: de Gruyter. 
2. 
Nichols, Johanna. 2003. ÔDiversity and stability in language.Õ In The Handbook of Historical 
Linguistics, Brian Joseph and Richard Janda, (eds.), 283-310. London: Blackwell. 
Oct 1. Language contact and prehistory 

1. 
Claire Bowern. 2006. ÔAnother look at Australia as a linguistic area,Õ in Yaron Matras, A. M. S. 
McMahon, and N. Vincent. Linguistic areas: convergence in historical and typological 
perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 
2. 
Dunn, Michael, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert Foley, and Stephen Levinson. 2005.
ÔStructural phylogenetics and the reconstruction of ancient language history.Õ Science 309:2072Ð 
75. 
3. 
Donohue, Mark, S¿ren Wichmann, and Mihai Albu. 2008. ÔTypology, areality, and diffusion.Õ 
Oceanic Linguistics 47:223-232. 
Week 7. Issues of multilingualism 

Oct 6. Language use and communicative competence 

1. 
Enfield, N. J. 2003. ÔLinguistic epidemiology: a non-metaphorical view of languageÕ (in ch. 1 
ÔIntroductionÕ, 2-21 only) in Linguistic Epidemiology. Routledge Curzon. 
2. 
Agar, Michael. 1991. ÔThe biculture in bilingualÕ, Language in Society 20, 167-81. 
Recommended: 
Beier, Christine, Lev Michael, and Joel Sherzer. 2002. ÔDiscourse forms and processes in 
indigenous lowland South America: an areal-typological perspectiveÕ. Annual Review of 
Anthropology 31: 121-45. 


Oct 8. Multilingual cognition 

1. 
Bialystok, E. 2009. ÔBilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent.Õ Bilingualism: 
Language and Cognition 12: 3-11. 

2. 
Matras, Yaron. 1998. ÔUtterance modifiers and universals of grammatical borrowing.Õ Linguistics 
36, 281-331. 
Recommended: 
Appel, RenŽ and Pieter Muysken. 1987. ÔPsychological dimensions of bilingualism,Õ ch. 7 of 
Language contact and bilingualism, 73-81. London: Edward Arnold. 

MID-TERM ESSAY DUE OCT. 8 

Week 8. Code switching and mixing 

Oct 13. Social aspects 

1. 
Winford ch. 4 
2. 
Blom, Jan-Petter and John Gumperz. 1972. ÔSocial meaning in linguistic structure: code-switching 
in Norway,Õ in Directions in Sociolinguistics, Gumperz and Hymes (eds.), 407-434. Holt, Rinehart 
and Winston. 
Oct 15. Linguistic aspects 

1. 
Winford ch. 5 
Recommended: 
Muysken, Peter. 2000. Ch. 8 ÔVariation in mixing patternsÕ, Bilingual Speech, 221-249. CUP. 

Week 9. Mixed languages 

Oct 20. Types and definitions 

1. 
Winford ch. 6 
2. 
Matras, Yaron. 2004. ÔMixed languages: re-examining the structural prototype.Õ In The Mixed 
Language debate, Yaron Matras and Peter Bakker (eds.), 151-176. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 
Recommended: 
Muysken, Peter. 1997. ÔMedia Lengua,Õ in Contact languages: a wider perspective, S. Thomason 
(ed.), 365-426. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 

Oct 22. Origins 

1. 
Bakker, Peter. 2003. ÔMixed languages as autonomous systems.Õ In The Mixed Language Debate: 
Theoretical and Empirical Advances, Yaron Matras and Peter Bakker (eds.), 107-150. Berlin: 
Mouton de Gruyter. 

3. 
McConvell, Patrick and Felicity Meakins. 2005. ÔGurindji Kriol: a mixed language emerges from 
code-switching. Australian Journal of Linguistics 25:9-30. 
THIRD DISCUSSION WRITEUP DUE BY 10/22 

Week 10. Language transfer and shift 

Oct 27. Second language acquisition 

1. 
Winford ch. 7, part 1 (pp. 209-235) 
2. 
Andersen, R. 1990. ÔModels, processes, principles, and strategies: second language acquisition 
inside and outside the classroom,Õ in Second language acquisition/foreign language learning, 
VanPatten and Lee (eds.), 45-66. Multilingual Matter Ltd. 
Oct 29. Language shift 

1. 
Winford ch. 7, part 2 (pp. 235-256) 
2. 
Mithun, Marianne. 1992. ÔThe substratum in grammar and discourse,Õ in Language Contact: 
theoretical and empirical studies, E. H. Jahr (ed.), 103-115. Berlin/NY: de Gruyter. 
Recommended: 
Gupta, A. 1992. ÔContact features of Singapore Colloquial English.Õ In Sociolinguistics today: 
international perspectives, Bolton, Kingsley and Helen Kwok (eds.), 323-45. London: Routledge. 


Week 11. Language attrition, death, and maintenance 

Nov 3. Language obsolescence 

1. 
Winford ch. 7, part 3 (pp. 256-267) 
2. 
Campbell, Lyle and Martha Muntzel. 1989. ÔThe structural consequences of language deathÕ in 
Investigating Obsolescence, Nancy Dorian (ed.), 181-96. CUP. 
3. 
Tsunoda, Tasaku. 2004. ÔStructural changes in language endangermentÕ, ch.8 of Language death 
and language revitalization, 76-116. Berlin/NY: Mouton de Gruyter. Focus on section 8.2. 
Nov 5. Language death and language maintenance 

1. 
Nettle, D. and S. Romaine. 2000. ÔWhere have all the languages gone?Õ ch. 1 of Vanishing Voices: 
the extinction of the worldÕs languages, 1-25. OUP. 
2. 
Dorian, Nancy. 1993. ÔA response to LadefogedÕs other view of endangered languages,Õ Language 
69:3, 575-579. 
3. 
Dauenhauer, N. and R. Dauenhauer. 1998. ÔTechnical, emotional, and ideological issues in 
reversing language shift: examples from southeast AlaskaÕ, in Endangered languages: language 
loss and community response, L. Grenoble and L. Whaley (eds.), 57-98. CUP. 
Recommended: 
Fermino, Jessie Little Doe. 2001. ÔYou are a dead peopleÕ. Cultural Survival Quarterly 25.2. 


FOURTH DISCUSSION WRITEUP DUE BY 11/5 

Week 12. Pidgins and koinŽs 

Nov 10. Pidginization and koinŽization 

1. 
Winford ch, 8 
2. 
Siegel, Jeff. 1985. ÔKoinŽs and koinŽization.Õ Language in Society 14.3, 357-78. 
Recommended: 
Clark, Ross. 1983. ÔSocial contexts of early pacific pidgin English,Õ in The social contexts of 
creolization, E. Woolford and W. Washabaugh, 10-25. Ann Arbor: Karoma. 


Nov 12. Pidgins 

1. 
van der Voort, Hein. 1994. ÔEskimo PidginÕ, in Pidgins and creoles: an introduction, J. Arends et 
al., 137-52. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 
2. 
Keesing, Roger. 1988. ÔStructures and sources of pidgin syntaxÕ, in Melanesian Pidgin and the 
Oceanic Substrate, 105-132. Stanford Univ. Press. 
Week 13. Creoles 

Nov 17. Creole formation: sociohistorical aspects, theoretical issues 

1. 
Winford ch. 9 through 9.6 (pp. 303-329) 
2. 
Arends, Jacques. 1995. ÔDemographic factors in the emergence of Sranan,Õ in The early stages of 
creolization, J. Arends (ed.), 233-285. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 
Recommended: 
Bickerton, Derek. 1984. ÔThe language bioprogram hypothesis,Õ Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7, 173-88. 

Nov 19. Theories of creole formation 

1. 
Winford ch. 9 to end (pp. 329-357) 
2. 
Siegel, Jeff. 2000. ÔSubstrate influence in HawaiÕian Creole EnglishÕ, Language in Society 29, 197-236. 
Week 14. 

Nov 24. Presentations of final papers 

PRELIMINARY VERSION OF TERM PAPER DUE NOV 24 

Week 15. Envoi 

Dec 1. [TBA] 
Dec 3. Presentations of final papers, wrap-up 


FINAL VERSION OF TERM PAPER DUE WEDNESDAY DEC. 9 BEFORE 5PM 

5