Contact Languages
Ecology and Evolution in Asia

This book explores the social and structural dynamics that underlie the creation of new, or restructured, grammars.

Umberto Ansaldo (Author)

9780521863971, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 October 2009

276 pages
23.4 x 15.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.57 kg

'Ansaldo offers a detailed and highly informative historical account of trade and power relations in the region … [this book is] very suitable for beginners as well as specialists, and I would certainly recommend it as a secondary textbook for students of linguistics and related areas.' Languages in Contrast

Why do groups of speakers in certain times and places come up with new varieties of languages? What are the social settings that determine whether a mixed language, a pidgin or a Creole will develop, and how can we understand the ways in which different languages contribute to the new grammar? Through the study of Malay contact varieties such as Baba Malay, Cocos Malay and Sri Lanka Malay, as well as the Asian Portuguese vernacular of Macau, and China Coast Pidgin, this book explores the social and structural dynamics that underlie the fascinating phenomenon of the creation of new, or restructured, grammars. It emphasizes the importance and interplay of historical documentation, socio-cultural observation and linguistic analysis in the study of contact languages, offering an evolutionary framework for the study of contact language formation - including pidgins and Creoles - in which historical, socio-cultural and typological observations come together.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction to contact language formation
2. Research questions
3. The role of ecology in Asian contexts
4. Theory of language and contact language formation
5. Contact language formation beyond exceptional evolution
6. Outlook
Part II. The Ecology of Monsoon Asia: 7. Monsoon Asia
8. Sino-Javanese trade
9. The city-ports
10. Manpower in Southeast Asia
11. The Western impact
Part III. Linguistic Ecologies of Southeast Asia: 12. Southeast Asia and the role of Malay
13. Malay contact varieties
14. Introducing contexts of formation
15. The role of Portuguese in Southeast Asia and Southern China
16. Summary
Part IV. Methodological Issues in the Study of Contact Languages: 17. The ideology of theory
18. Multilingualism and transmission
19. Conclusions
Part V. Contact Language Formation in Evolutionary Theory: 20. Competence, performance and socialization
21. Language evolution and contact languages
22. Functionalist assets for contact linguistics
23. Conclusions
Part VI. Congruence and Frequency in Sri Lanka Malay: 24. The SLM community
25. Selection and replication in SLM
26. Freeing SLM from the chains of exceptionalism
27. Final remarks
Part VII. Identity Alignment in Malay and Asian-Portuguese Diaspora: 28. The ecology of identity alignment
29. Multiple alignments in contact settings
30. Identity alignment and admixture
31. Conclusions
Part VIII. Pidgin Ecologies of the China Coast: 32. Sociohistorical background of Europe-China relations
33. The ecology of Macau and the Pearl River Delta
34. Grammatical features of China Coast Pidgin
35. The missing Makista link?
36. Discussion
Part IX. Implications, Conclusions and New Horizons: 37. Theoretical and methodological implications
38. Conclusions and new horizons
References
Index
Author index.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Bilingualism & multilingualism [CFDM], Sociolinguistics [CFB]