Published January 1, 2017 | Version v1
Book chapter Open

Language contact and change in the multilingual ecologies of the Guianas

  • 1. The University of Hong Kong
  • 2. Radboud University Nijmegen

Description

This book deals with multilingualism, language contact, language change and convergence in the Guianas of South America, with a focus on Suriname. The Guianas are a very complex region. We have named our volume Boundaries and bridges because it reflects at the same time the maintenance of ethnic and linguistic boundaries, through the languages involved, but also the numerous instances of cross-linguistic influence across these boundaries. It illustrates the point that in the complex multilingual and multi-ethnic area of the Guianas, the languages spoken have been part of an effort of groups to keep themselves apart, as boundaries, but have also undergone numerous changes in the presence of other languages, and thus form bridges. The Guianas, or any part of them, do not form a single language community, but rather a chain of interacting and intersecting communities, which have very diverse and complex relations among themselves. Hence the term multilingual ecologies in our subtitle. However, these cases of cross-linguistic influence are very diverse in nature, and involve many parts of language. They result from different contact scenarios and include maintenance, shift, and creation.

Files

yakpo_2017_language-contact-guianas-ams.pdf

Files (223.4 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:443c7ff0a15658feb7f543c22458ffaa
223.4 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Related works

Is part of
Book: 10.1515/9781614514886 (DOI)