Language Contact by Yaron Matras

Language Contact by Yaron Matras

Most societies in today's world are multilingual. 'Language contact' occurs when speakers of different languages interact and their languages influence each other. This book is an introduction to the subject, covering individual and societal multilingualism, the acquisition of two or more languages from birth, second language acquisition in adulthood, language change, linguistic typology, language processing and the structure of the language faculty. It explains the effects of multilingualism on society and language policy, as well as the consequences that long-term bilingualism within communities can have for the structure of languages. Drawing on the author's own first-hand observations of child and adult bilingualism, the book provides a clear analysis of such phenomena as language convergence, grammatical borrowing, and mixed languages.

'Matras does indeed succeed in his stated goal of bringing a much-needed emphasis on the individual bilingual speaker back to language contact theory' Journal of Sociolinguistics

Yaron Matras is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Manchester. His research interests include the interface of linguistic typology, discourse pragmatics and language processing, and language change, as well as multilingualism and dialects. He has published widely on the linguistics of Romani (including Romani: A Linguistic Introduction, Cambridge, 2002), and on language contact.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521532211
ISBN 10	0521532213
Title	Language Contact
Author	Yaron Matras
Series	Cambridge Textbooks In Linguistics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2009-09-10
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.