Contact Languages: Ecology and Evolution in Asia

by Umberto Ansaldo

• ISBN13: 9780521863971
• ISBN10: 052186397X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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, the 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.

Author Biography

Umberto Ansaldo is Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. He was formerly a senior researcher and lecturer with the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication at the University of Amsterdam. He has also worked in Sweden and Singapore and conducted fieldwork in China, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and Sri Lanka. He is the co-editor of the Creole Language Library Series and has co-edited various journals and books including Deconstructing Creole (2007).

Table of Contents

List of maps	p. ix
List of tables and figures	p. x
Series editor's foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
List of abbreviations	p. xvi
Introduction	p. 1
Introduction to contact language formation (CLF)	p. 1
Research questions	p. 3
The role of ecology in Asian contexts	p. 5
Theory of language and CLF	p. 9
CLF beyond exceptional evolution	p. 13
Outlook	p. 16
The ecology of Monsoon Asia	p. 18
Monsoon Asia	p. 19
Sino-Javanese trade	p. 22
The city-ports	p. 29
Manpower in early Southeast Asia	p. 35
The Western impact	p. 42
Linguistic ecologies of Southeast Asia	p. 52
Southeast Asia and the role of Malay	p. 53
Malay contact varieties	p. 60
Introducing contexts of formation	p. 65
The role of Portuguese in Southeast Asia and Southern China	p. 73
Summary	p. 78
Methodological issues in the study of contact languages	p. 81
The ideology of theory	p. 83
Multilingualism and transmission	p. 87
Conclusions	p. 97
Contact language formation in evolutionary theory	p. 99
Competence, performance, and socialization	p. 101
Language evolution and contact languages	p. 105
Functionalist assets for contact linguistics	p. 114
Conclusions	p. 118
Congruence and frequency in Sri Lanka Malay	p. 122
The SLM community	p. 123
Selection and replication in SLM	p. 128
Freeing SLM from the chains of exceptionalism	p. 137
Final remarks	p. 144
Identity alignment in Malay and Asian-Portuguese Diaspora	p. 148
The ecology of identity alignment	p. 149
Multiple alignments in contact settings	p. 150
Identity alignment and admixture	p. 160
Conclusions	p. 180
Pidgin ecologies of the China coast	p. 184
Socio-historical background of Europe-China relations	p. 186
The ecology of Macau and the Pearl River Delta	p. 188
Grammatical features of China Coast Pidgin	p. 197
The missing Makista link?	p. 205
Discussion	p. 208
Implications, conclusions, and new horizons	p. 213
Theoretical and methodological implications	p. 214
Conclusions and new horizons	p. 222
References	p. 229
Index	p. 253
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.