Language Evolution Contact, Competition and Change

by Mufwene, Salikoko S.

• ISBN13: 9780826493699
• ISBN10: 0826493696
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-31
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Languages are constantly changing. New words are added to the English language every year, either borrowed or coined, and there is often railing against the 'decline' of the language by public figures. Some languages, such as French and Finnish, have acad

Table of Contents

List of Maps
Prologue	p. 1
Population Dynamics and Language Evolution
Language Evolution: The Population Genetics Way	p. 11
Population Movements and Contacts in Language Evolution	p. 29
How Population-wide Patterns Emerge in Language Evolution: A Comparison with Highway Traffic	p. 59
What Do Creoles and Pidgins Tell Us About the Evolution of Language?	p. 74
Race, Racialism, and the Study of Language Evolution in America	p. 93
Competition, Selection, and the Development of Creoles
Competition and Selection in Language Evolution	p. 115
Transfer and the Substrate Hypothesis in Creolistics	p. 133
Grammaticization in the Development of Creoles	p. 160
Multilingualism, "Creolization," and Indigenization	p. 180
Globalization and Language Vitality
Language Birth and Death	p. 205
Globalization and the Myth of Killer Languages: What's Really Going On?	p. 225
Myths of Globalization: What African Demolinguistics Reveals	p. 253
A Case Study: The Ecology of Gullah's Survival	p. 273
Notes	p. 285
Bibliography	p. 313
Author index	p. 337
Subject index	p. 341
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