Journal of Language Contact最新文献

The article deals with the northern Swahili dialect Bajuni. It is viewed as a language peninsula rather than island, attached to neighbouring and related dialects to the south but jutting north into Somali-speaking areas. It is currently severely endangered, having been largely replaced by Somali in Somalia, and Swahili in Kenya during the late twentieth century, so it is regarded essentially as a historical language peninsula. It is treated under these headings: geography and population; history; political, sociocultural, and economic context; linguistics; regularity/complexity/stability; contact phenomena; sociolinguistics; language use and attitudes; networks.

The article deals with Miini, spoken in the town of Brava. Some regard it as a northern Swahili dialect, others view it as a closely related language. The town and its speech form have existed for probably a millennium. During most of that period it flourished, surrounded by a community or communities speaking southern Somali dialects. When the Somali central government collapsed in 1991 it was invaded and occupied by the Habr Gidir clan, part of the larger Hawiye group. Most inhabitants who could left. It is currently severely endangered, having been largely replaced by Somali. It is treated under these headings: geography and population; history; political, socio-cultural, and economic context; linguistics; regularity/complexity/stability; contact phenomena; sociolinguistics; language variation; language use and attitudes, language and education; networks.

The Anii language of Togo and Benin is surrounded by essentially unrelated languages because the ancestors of the current speakers migrated into their modern territory within the last few centuries. This paper presents what is known about the cultural history and current social context of the Anii people and argues that Anii is a progressive language island despite a social situation that is different from that of many traditional language islands. The analysis of Anii linguistic structures (including comparisons with related languages and the presentation of relevant dialect differences) provides further support for the analysis of Anii as a language island. Much of the data, particularly the comparative analyses, presented here have never been previously available to scholars. This paper thus sheds new light on a little-known language with a complicated history that is not yet well understood, as well as potentially expanding the definition of the term ‘language island’.

Among the many language islands produced by the expansion of Songhay out of the middle Niger valley, Korandje stands out for its geographical isolation and linguistic divergence. Confined since perhaps 1200 CE to a single Algerian oasis well over a thousand kilometres from any other Songhay-speaking community, its speakers have extensively reshaped their language and identity under the influence of North African norms, while nevertheless keeping the former clearly distinct. Yet, following the socioeconomic and political changes of the 20th century, the survival of Korandje is now in doubt, as speakers increasingly adopt speech norms and linguistic ideologies negotiated outside the oasis.

This article treats the Bantu language Temi, sometimes called Gitemi or Sonjo. The Temi language island is 125 kilometres from the nearest Bantu community and completely surrounded by historically hostile Maasai communities. As far as we know, Maasai were preceded by other non-Bantu communities for most of the last millennium. Community and language are both in good shape: in 1928 the population was 2,500, at Tanzanian independence in the 1960s it was 5,000, and now it is over 30,000. It is treated under these headings: geography and population; history; political, sociocultural, and economic context; linguistics; regularity/complexity/stability; contact phenomena; sociolinguistics; language use and attitudes; networks.

The Sandawe language community in Tanzania is surrounded by languages from different African language families, yet retains a special distinctiveness in this context by virtue of its unusual phonology and its status as a relic of the original inhabitants of the area. It is also noteworthy how long the Sandawe situation has endured and how this has been possible. This paper examines the reasons for the Sandawe community’s situation and its continued survival. The description of the Sandawe situation takes in its history and the question of its linguistic classification. The sociocultural features of the community and the typological features of the language are then considered, particularly in comparison with the surrounding communities and their languages, as well as possibly related languages in southern Africa. Finally, the status of Sandawe as a linguistic island is discussed, with reference to different definitions of the concept.