Pub Date : 2023-12-26DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15030001
Ricardo Napoleão de Souza, Kaius Sinnemäki
This article has three goals. First, it provides a broad cross-linguistic survey of phonological change in contact situations focusing on the suprasegmental domain. The term suprasegmental refers here to syllable structure, stress patterns, tonal patterns, and vowel and nasal harmony systems. Secondly, it assesses phonological change to suprasegmental variables whereby external influence causes an increase in complexity in the recipient language’s structure. Thirdly, using insights from the phonological typology literature, it provides a preliminary framework to evaluate suprasegmental phenomena, which can then serve as an additional tool to disentangle inheritance from contact-induced change. Data from 45 languages suggest that the suprasegmental domain provides fertile ground for inspecting contact-influenced increases in linguistic complexity. Overall, we argue that the data reviewed here highlight the relevance of phonological structure as a variable in studies of language contact, which have been mostly preoccupied with morphosyntactic variables.
{"title":"Beyond Segment Inventories: Phonological Complexity Measures and Suprasegmental Variables in Contact Situations","authors":"Ricardo Napoleão de Souza, Kaius Sinnemäki","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15030001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15030001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article has three goals. First, it provides a broad cross-linguistic survey of phonological change in contact situations focusing on the suprasegmental domain. The term suprasegmental refers here to syllable structure, stress patterns, tonal patterns, and vowel and nasal harmony systems. Secondly, it assesses phonological change to suprasegmental variables whereby external influence causes an increase in complexity in the recipient language’s structure. Thirdly, using insights from the phonological typology literature, it provides a preliminary framework to evaluate suprasegmental phenomena, which can then serve as an additional tool to disentangle inheritance from contact-induced change. Data from 45 languages suggest that the suprasegmental domain provides fertile ground for inspecting contact-influenced increases in linguistic complexity. Overall, we argue that the data reviewed here highlight the relevance of phonological structure as a variable in studies of language contact, which have been mostly preoccupied with morphosyntactic variables.</p>","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-26DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15030004
Terhi Honkola, Fiona M. Jordan
The universality of kinship terms means they are regarded, like much basic vocabulary, as resistant to borrowing. Kin term borrowings are documented at varying frequencies, but their role in the dynamics of change in this core social domain is understudied. We investigated the dimensions and the sociolinguistic contexts of kinship borrowings with 50 kinship categories from a global sample of 32 languages, a subset extracted from the World Loanword Database. We found that more borrowings take place in affinal kin categories and in generations denoting relatives older than ego. Close kin categories also have borrowings, but the borrowed items usually coexist with other, presumably non-borrowed variants. Colonisation and the spread of cultures and religions were main inducing forces for kin term borrowings; new terms often enter a language via bilingualism. These tentative patterns can be studied further with larger datasets in future systematic studies of kinship borrowings.
{"title":"Kin Term Borrowings in the World’s Languages","authors":"Terhi Honkola, Fiona M. Jordan","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15030004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15030004","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The universality of kinship terms means they are regarded, like much basic vocabulary, as resistant to borrowing. Kin term borrowings are documented at varying frequencies, but their role in the dynamics of change in this core social domain is understudied. We investigated the dimensions and the sociolinguistic contexts of kinship borrowings with 50 kinship categories from a global sample of 32 languages, a subset extracted from the World Loanword Database. We found that more borrowings take place in affinal kin categories and in generations denoting relatives older than ego. Close kin categories also have borrowings, but the borrowed items usually coexist with other, presumably non-borrowed variants. Colonisation and the spread of cultures and religions were main inducing forces for kin term borrowings; new terms often enter a language via bilingualism. These tentative patterns can be studied further with larger datasets in future systematic studies of kinship borrowings.</p>","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139051290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15020001
L. Grenoble, Jack Martin
In order to understand why languages become endangered, linguists must shift from documenting the last fluent speakers to documenting the larger ecology of language use in an area. The papers in this special issue all address different aspects of documenting language multilingualism. They address three related topics: (1) consideration of the state of multilingualism in endangered language ecologies; (2) tools and methods for transcribing, annotating, analyzing and presenting multilingual corpora; and (3) methods in documenting and studying language contact in process.
{"title":"Documenting Multilingualism and Contact","authors":"L. Grenoble, Jack Martin","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15020001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15020001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In order to understand why languages become endangered, linguists must shift from documenting the last fluent speakers to documenting the larger ecology of language use in an area. The papers in this special issue all address different aspects of documenting language multilingualism. They address three related topics: (1) consideration of the state of multilingualism in endangered language ecologies; (2) tools and methods for transcribing, annotating, analyzing and presenting multilingual corpora; and (3) methods in documenting and studying language contact in process.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79028554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15020005
I. Léglise
Although we know multilingualism is the norm, most previous work has focused on languages as self-contained entities. Research on language contact mostly assumes bounded languages or repertoires: most studies presuppose contact between stable “communities” and the identifiability of specific languages in bilingual (sometimes plurilingual) corpora. Similarly, language annotation in corpus linguistics is based on the principle of univocity of items belonging to specific languages. In this paper, I address the notion of language boundaries, constructed both by linguists and by language users, and consider heterogeneity as a linguistic resource for speakers in their everyday multilingual language practices. First, there is a need for a shift in focus from linguistic systems toward language users. Second, there is a need for a solid methodology to reveal the heterogeneity of language practices through the annotation of plurilingual corpora. Ambivalence or play on boundaries is a common characteristic of communication in multilingual contexts that we can document.
{"title":"Documenting Multilingual Language Practices and the Erasure of Language Boundaries","authors":"I. Léglise","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15020005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15020005","url":null,"abstract":"Although we know multilingualism is the norm, most previous work has focused on languages as self-contained entities. Research on language contact mostly assumes bounded languages or repertoires: most studies presuppose contact between stable “communities” and the identifiability of specific languages in bilingual (sometimes plurilingual) corpora. Similarly, language annotation in corpus linguistics is based on the principle of univocity of items belonging to specific languages. In this paper, I address the notion of language boundaries, constructed both by linguists and by language users, and consider heterogeneity as a linguistic resource for speakers in their everyday multilingual language practices. First, there is a need for a shift in focus from linguistic systems toward language users. Second, there is a need for a solid methodology to reveal the heterogeneity of language practices through the annotation of plurilingual corpora. Ambivalence or play on boundaries is a common characteristic of communication in multilingual contexts that we can document.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79074638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15020004
Pierpaolo Di Carlo
Surveys can allow for the collection of non-speech data in a relatively short time and might benefit field linguists working in contexts of language contact. Existing survey models broadly share a basic structure embodying ways of understanding speakers and contexts of interaction that are ultimately derived from diglossia theory. By attempting a critical analysis of the ideological foundations of survey tools, this article provides the opportunity to recognize some key limitations that might affect the diagnostic potential of current survey models in specific contexts. A case in point is offered by Lower Fungom, in rural Cameroon, where forms of non-diglossic, small-scale multilingualism are practiced. Through the presentation of first-hand fieldwork experience and ethnographic data, it becomes apparent that a new model of surveying multilingual populations is needed in order to capture relevant information in such contexts. This article advances some proposals aiming to build such a model. Since its innovations are rooted in sociolinguistic phenomena that appear to be common across environments of small-scale multilingualism, the proposed model can potentially be applied in research conducted in any environments of this kind.
{"title":"Reappraising Survey Tools in the Study of Multilingualism: Lessons From Contexts of Small-Scale Multilingualism","authors":"Pierpaolo Di Carlo","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15020004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15020004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Surveys can allow for the collection of non-speech data in a relatively short time and might benefit field linguists working in contexts of language contact. Existing survey models broadly share a basic structure embodying ways of understanding speakers and contexts of interaction that are ultimately derived from diglossia theory. By attempting a critical analysis of the ideological foundations of survey tools, this article provides the opportunity to recognize some key limitations that might affect the diagnostic potential of current survey models in specific contexts. A case in point is offered by Lower Fungom, in rural Cameroon, where forms of non-diglossic, small-scale multilingualism are practiced. Through the presentation of first-hand fieldwork experience and ethnographic data, it becomes apparent that a new model of surveying multilingual populations is needed in order to capture relevant information in such contexts. This article advances some proposals aiming to build such a model. Since its innovations are rooted in sociolinguistic phenomena that appear to be common across environments of small-scale multilingualism, the proposed model can potentially be applied in research conducted in any environments of this kind.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73908023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15020003
Kristine A. Hildebrandt, Oliver Bond, Dubi Nanda Dhakal
When minority languages with similar typological profiles are in long-term contact with a genealogically unrelated socioeconomically dominant language, the perfect context is provided for investigating which observed contact effects are demonstrably allied to sociolinguistic dynamics rather than purely structural ones. This paper investigates the factors determining the different extent of contact effects in four Tibeto-Burman languages (Gurung, Gyalsumdo, Nar-Phu, and Manange) spoken in a geo-politically defined and multilingual region of Nepal. Using corpus data and sociolinguistic interviews collected in the field, we demonstrate that a range of social, economic and geo-spatial factors contribute to asymmetries where contact effects are observed in the four speech communities. These notably include factors specifically relevant in mountasin-based communities, including proximity to transport and trekking routes, outward migration effects on small settlements, and the primary economies of the different parts of the Manang District.
{"title":"A Micro-Typology of Contact Effects in Four Tibeto-Burman Languages","authors":"Kristine A. Hildebrandt, Oliver Bond, Dubi Nanda Dhakal","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15020003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15020003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000When minority languages with similar typological profiles are in long-term contact with a genealogically unrelated socioeconomically dominant language, the perfect context is provided for investigating which observed contact effects are demonstrably allied to sociolinguistic dynamics rather than purely structural ones. This paper investigates the factors determining the different extent of contact effects in four Tibeto-Burman languages (Gurung, Gyalsumdo, Nar-Phu, and Manange) spoken in a geo-politically defined and multilingual region of Nepal. Using corpus data and sociolinguistic interviews collected in the field, we demonstrate that a range of social, economic and geo-spatial factors contribute to asymmetries where contact effects are observed in the four speech communities. These notably include factors specifically relevant in mountasin-based communities, including proximity to transport and trekking routes, outward migration effects on small settlements, and the primary economies of the different parts of the Manang District.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"2003 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83019514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15020006
Jeff Good
Commonly recommended methods for documenting endangered languages are built around the assumption that a given documentary project will focus on a single language rather than a multilingual ecology. This hinders the potential usability of documentary materials for the study of language contact. Research in domains such as ethnography and sociolinguistics has developed conceptual and analytical tools for understanding patterns of multilingual usage, but the insights of such work have yet to be translated into concrete recommendations for enhancements to documentary practice. This paper considers how standard documentary approaches can be adapted to multilingual contexts with respect to activities such as the collection of metadata, the use of ethnographic methods, and the recording and annotation of naturalistic multilingual discourse. A particular focus of the discussion are ways in which documentary projects can create better records of multilingual practices even if these are not the focus of the work.
{"title":"Adapting Methods of Language Documentation To Multilingual Settings","authors":"Jeff Good","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15020006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15020006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Commonly recommended methods for documenting endangered languages are built around the assumption that a given documentary project will focus on a single language rather than a multilingual ecology. This hinders the potential usability of documentary materials for the study of language contact. Research in domains such as ethnography and sociolinguistics has developed conceptual and analytical tools for understanding patterns of multilingual usage, but the insights of such work have yet to be translated into concrete recommendations for enhancements to documentary practice. This paper considers how standard documentary approaches can be adapted to multilingual contexts with respect to activities such as the collection of metadata, the use of ethnographic methods, and the recording and annotation of naturalistic multilingual discourse. A particular focus of the discussion are ways in which documentary projects can create better records of multilingual practices even if these are not the focus of the work.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84321745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15020002
Paul V. Kroskrity
Data from long-term research in two ideologically divergent Native American linguistic communities demonstrate the importance, first, of indigenous multilingualisms and, second, of distinctive ideologies of multilingualism in shaping the divergent language contact outcomes and practices of those communities as they adapted to such forces as economic incorporation, colonization, assimilationist policies, and later decolonization and attempted language revitalization. Indigenous ideological differences in these communities were key factors in producing divergent patterns of language shift as well as in community efforts to document and revitalize their respective heritage languages. The Village of Tewa (NE Arizona) still partially retains a multilingual adaptation in all generations except youth and young adults (Kroskrity, 1993; 2014). The Western Mono (Central California) were traditionally multilingual with neighboring languages of the Yokuts and Southern Sierra Miwok groups (Kroskrity, 2009a). Though both groups were historically multilingual, multilingual practices were differentially influenced by distinctive language ideologies such as those emphasizing purism/syncretism and the expressive/utilitarian functions of language. This observation suggests the importance of understanding indigenous multilingualisms and their consequences for language contact within their language ideological assemblages (Kroskrity, 2018).
{"title":"Multilingual Language Ideological Assemblages: Language Contact, Documentation and Revitalization","authors":"Paul V. Kroskrity","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15020002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15020002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Data from long-term research in two ideologically divergent Native American linguistic communities demonstrate the importance, first, of indigenous multilingualisms and, second, of distinctive ideologies of multilingualism in shaping the divergent language contact outcomes and practices of those communities as they adapted to such forces as economic incorporation, colonization, assimilationist policies, and later decolonization and attempted language revitalization. Indigenous ideological differences in these communities were key factors in producing divergent patterns of language shift as well as in community efforts to document and revitalize their respective heritage languages. The Village of Tewa (NE Arizona) still partially retains a multilingual adaptation in all generations except youth and young adults (Kroskrity, 1993; 2014). The Western Mono (Central California) were traditionally multilingual with neighboring languages of the Yokuts and Southern Sierra Miwok groups (Kroskrity, 2009a). Though both groups were historically multilingual, multilingual practices were differentially influenced by distinctive language ideologies such as those emphasizing purism/syncretism and the expressive/utilitarian functions of language. This observation suggests the importance of understanding indigenous multilingualisms and their consequences for language contact within their language ideological assemblages (Kroskrity, 2018).","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87064007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-04DOI: 10.1163/19552629-bja10038
Szymon Gruda
The paper presents an analysis of Nahuatl coinages for six artifacts: ‘bicycle,’ ‘car,’ ‘clock,’ ‘key,’ ‘pen,’ and ‘umbrella,’ as attested in interviews with speakers from four communities in Mexico. These artifacts have been selected because of their shared characteristics: the terms for them do not belong to the core vocabulary; they tend to be referred to with Spanish loanwords or with terms created ad hoc using descriptive phrases; the non-borrowed terminology for them is highly varied. The analysis reveals that, despite the ongoing process of language shift and pervasive borrowing from Spanish, new terminology continues to be created in Nahuatl both innovatively and according to established patterns of word formation inherited from previous stages of language contact. This suggests that even a situation of language marginalization, displacement and massive substitutive borrowing, does not impair speakers’ ability to create new lexemes according to established patterns, or the ability to innovate morphosemantic patterns.
{"title":"Continuity and Change in Modern Nahuatl Word Formation","authors":"Szymon Gruda","doi":"10.1163/19552629-bja10038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-bja10038","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The paper presents an analysis of Nahuatl coinages for six artifacts: ‘bicycle,’ ‘car,’ ‘clock,’ ‘key,’ ‘pen,’ and ‘umbrella,’ as attested in interviews with speakers from four communities in Mexico. These artifacts have been selected because of their shared characteristics: the terms for them do not belong to the core vocabulary; they tend to be referred to with Spanish loanwords or with terms created ad hoc using descriptive phrases; the non-borrowed terminology for them is highly varied. The analysis reveals that, despite the ongoing process of language shift and pervasive borrowing from Spanish, new terminology continues to be created in Nahuatl both innovatively and according to established patterns of word formation inherited from previous stages of language contact. This suggests that even a situation of language marginalization, displacement and massive substitutive borrowing, does not impair speakers’ ability to create new lexemes according to established patterns, or the ability to innovate morphosemantic patterns.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"1936 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91135908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-04DOI: 10.1163/19552629-15010005
M. Barking, A. Backus, Maria Mos
Bilingual speakers of typologically closely related languages tend to frequently experience language transfer, which suggests that similarity between languages is likely to play an important role in the transfer process. In this paper, we explore how three different types of similarity affect transfer of light verb constructions (lvc s), such as take a walk or set an alarm, from Dutch to German by native German speakers living in the Netherlands, namely: (a) similarity to existing constructions, (b) surface similarity based on whether the noun in the lvc is a cognate in Dutch and German, and (c) similarity in the light verb’s collocational contexts. The results suggest that all three types of similarity influence transfer: speakers add similar constructions to their language and they drop existing ones that happen to be less similar, ultimately facilitating convergence across the speakers’ languages.
{"title":"Similarity in Language Transfer – Investigating Transfer of Light Verb Constructions From Dutch to German","authors":"M. Barking, A. Backus, Maria Mos","doi":"10.1163/19552629-15010005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/19552629-15010005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Bilingual speakers of typologically closely related languages tend to frequently experience language transfer, which suggests that similarity between languages is likely to play an important role in the transfer process. In this paper, we explore how three different types of similarity affect transfer of light verb constructions (lvc s), such as take a walk or set an alarm, from Dutch to German by native German speakers living in the Netherlands, namely: (a) similarity to existing constructions, (b) surface similarity based on whether the noun in the lvc is a cognate in Dutch and German, and (c) similarity in the light verb’s collocational contexts. The results suggest that all three types of similarity influence transfer: speakers add similar constructions to their language and they drop existing ones that happen to be less similar, ultimately facilitating convergence across the speakers’ languages.","PeriodicalId":43304,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language Contact","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83840228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}