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  • Language Variation and Change in Multilingual Contexts

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    Peter Sipes
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    These are my notes from a U Chicago symposium talk given by Marianne Mithun from UC, Santa Barbara. She talks about how languages come in contact and share features. Her specific examples are mostly drawn from Central Pomoan, though other languages from the California region are mentioned. I've inserted a couple of notes that weren't in her talk, which I've tried to call out. Please forgive my pronunciation guides, as I cannot make the computer I was using produce IPA.

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    These are my notes from a U Chicago symposium talk given by Marianne Mithun from UC, Santa Barbara. She talks about how languages come in contact and share features. Her specific examples are mostly drawn from Central Pomoan, though other languages from the California region are mentioned. I've inserted a couple of notes that weren't in her talk, which I've tried to call out. Please forgive my pronunciation guides, as I cannot make the computer I was using produce IPA.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    59 views4 pages

    Language Variation and Change in Multilingual Contexts

    Uploaded by

    Peter Sipes
    These are my notes from a U Chicago symposium talk given by Marianne Mithun from UC, Santa Barbara. She talks about how languages come in contact and share features. Her specific examples are mostly drawn from Central Pomoan, though other languages from the California region are mentioned. I've inserted a couple of notes that weren't in her talk, which I've tried to call out. Please forgive my pronunciation guides, as I cannot make the computer I was using produce IPA.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 4

    LanguageVariationandChangeinMultilingualContexts

    presentedbyMarianneMithun,UCSB
    13Feb2015

    Hokanhypothesis(hoCAN)
    groupoflanguagesseemtobegeneticallyrelatedduetosomestructuralsimilarities
    widespread,manyfamilies,notcontiguousinareas
    problems
    remoterelations
    sparsedocumentation
    longhistoriesofcontact
    Penutianhypothesis(peNEWshn)
    samestory,butdifferentgroupoflanguageswithdifferentstructuralsimilarities

    Tehquestion:GenealogyorContact?

    CentralPomo
    pervasivederivationalprefixes
    whichspeakersknow
    oktouse?notperfectlygenerative
    notknown,butwouldhavemeaningif
    learnedorstorednotstoredasseparatemorphemes
    verbstemsmaynotbebare
    maybehighlyidiomaticwhencombined
    instrumentalprefixes
    showshow
    ormaybelexicalprefixes
    butactuallyfairlyabstract
    speakerscancreatenewstemsbyanalogytoexistingstems
    qahastodowithbitingandchewing
    getsextendedtocatch,trap,prune(viasimilaraction)
    thenextendstolock(viasimilaractiontopruningshears)
    historicsoundchange
    allvowelsininitialsyllables(savea)goaway
    *miprotruberancenearendoflongobject
    *muinternalforce,fire,etc
    buriesdifferencesintoapparentlyidenticalprefixes

    BeyondPomoan(backtoHokanandPenutian)
    somelanguageshavePomoanstyleprefixes
    somedont
    UtoAztecan

    justonebranch(Numic)hasthesemeans/mannersortsofprefixes

    But:Geneticstructuralsimilarityornot?

    ContactPhase1
    BeforetheEuropeans

    smallcommunities
    lotsofexogamy
    afact
    bilingualsgloballyeasilytransfervocabulary
    but
    certaindistinctionstransfertoo
    e.g.passiveuseEnglish>French,so
    EnglishspeakersoverusepassivewhenspeakingFrench
    so
    lotsofsecondlanguagespeakers
    prefixesariseoutofcompoundingontheverbs
    compoundingspreads
    prefixesreducephonetically
    whichexplains
    whysomeoftheprefixesare
    numerous
    concrete(asopposedtogrammaticalized)
    unspecifiedrolesofelementsincompound
    widearealdistribution
    easytocopy

    ContactPhase2
    AftertheEuropeans
    BacktoPomoan
    p^hti/lka
    lookslikeagoodPomoanword
    ph^blowing
    ti/lshining
    kainferentialprefix
    awwwyeah,but
    surprise!
    butilka,Russianforbottle
    otherlanguagesseetheword,analyzeitasexplainedabove
    windupwithproperphonologyofwordasifitwereborrowedfroma
    nativePomoanwordratherthandirectlyfromRussian

    Spanishmissions

    Franciscanscouldntcareaboutthelanguages
    JesuitsandSulpiciansdid
    1834missionsgosecular
    loans
    mirrorcontact
    nounsforintroducedobjects
    thoughtheyborrowwordswithimperfectreplication
    despitesomeofthesoundsexistinginthelanguage
    peso>pe/:su
    butintermediatinglanguagesdidnt,sohahaha!!
    speakersvaryintheirawarenessofborrowings
    butnoevidenceofgrammaticalborrowingfromSpanish

    AmericansandtheGoldRush
    allsortsofbadnewsforcultureandlanguage
    MitchellJack,informantsays
    1926,mostpeoplespokeCentralPomo
    1936,mostpeopledidnt
    fewspeakersby1980s

    Englisheffects
    lotsofcodeswitching
    lotsofborrowing

    CentralPomoeffectsonPomoanspeakersofEnglish
    tensemorefreetomove
    boundprosodytomatchtheboundnatureofverbs
    successiveelaboration
    startsimple
    elaborateondetails
    coupletstructure
    repeatimportantstuff
    differentwords,similarprosody
    notjustfromonespeaker
    butsometimesonespeakersaysonepartofthecouplet,conversational
    partnergivessecondpartofcouplet

    DocumentationandContactinfluences
    fewerspeakers
    increasinginfluenceofspeakerswithlessskillonlanguage
    cf.effectsofDanishonEnglish(notinpresentation,mynote)
    thoughlessskilledspeakerscanelicitcomplexityfromskilledspeakers
    inwaysthatlinguistscannotelicit

    rustyskillscanreturnovertime
    eveninthecourseofadaylongvisit
    andsomethingsarestoredaschunks
    ratherthanassembledfrommorphemesonline
    thereforerustyspeakerscansaycomplexthings

    Valueofspontaneousspeechindocumentation
    wedontknowwhattoask
    itmightnotoccurtous
    grammarandvocabularylinked(surprise!)
    peoplearentgoodatmakingupprosody
    unlesstheyrenaturallyinthemoment
    documentingthecontactisasimportantasdocumentingthelanguage

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