Languages in Contact

This fascinating study of languages in contact introduces new insights from popular culture, the globalised new economy and computer-mediated communication.

Lisa Lim (Author), Umberto Ansaldo (Author)

9780521149259, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 September 2015

251 pages, 2 b/w illus. 8 tables
21.6 x 13.9 x 1.3 cm, 0.32 kg

'It is refreshing that Lim and Ansaldo's project is less a textbook on creolistics, of which the discipline does not need another instalment, and rather a summation of the field. It is a critical distillation of significant issues and debates in creole studies integrated within a more modern sociolinguistics involving research into multilingualism, code switching, language shift, and language and globalisation.' Joshua Nash, Languages in Contrast

Introducing new findings from popular culture, the globalised new economy and computer-mediated communication, this is a fascinating study of contact between languages in modern societies. Ansaldo and Lim bring together research on multilingualism, code-switching, language endangerment, and globalisation, into a comprehensive overview of world Englishes and creoles. Illustrated with a wide range of original examples from typologically diverse languages, including Sinitic, Autronesian, Dravidian and other non-Indo-European varieties, the book focuses on structural analyses of Asian ecologies and their relevance for current theories of contact phenomena. Full of new insights, it is essential reading for students and researchers across linguistics, culture and communication.

1. Perspectives on contact
2. Contact and code choice
3. Contact and creole formation
4. Contact and language evolution
5. Contact and ecology
6. Contact and shift
7. Contact and globalisation
8. Reflections and future directions.

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