Dynamics of Language Contact

Abstract

The past decade has seen an unprecedented growth in the study of language contact, associated partly with the linguistic effects of globalization and increased migration all over the world. Written by a leading expert in the field, this much-needed account brings together disparate findings to examine the dynamics of contact between languages in an immigrant context. Using data from a wide range of languages, including German, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Croatian and Vietnamese, Michael Clyne discusses the dynamics of their contact with English. Clyne analyzes how and why these languages change in an immigration country like Australia, and asks why some languages survive longer than others. The book contains useful comparisons between immigrant vintages, generations, and between bilinguals and trilinguals. An outstanding contribution to the study of language contact, this book will be welcomed by students and researchers in linguistics, bilingualism, the sociology of language and education.

Language Switching in the Production of Phrases

“…One situation that may potentially put great strain on the processing capacity of a bilingual is that of switching between languages. However, bilinguals often switch between their two languages spontaneously, successfully reacting to cues from the environment (Clyne 2003;Gumperz 1982;Myers-Scotton 2005;Owens 2005;Poplack 1980). …”

The Role of Arab Fathers in Heritage Language Maintenance in New Zealand

“…Retention and transmission of this ethno-religious identity would promote the intergenerational transmission of Arabic due to the strong association between ethnicity, religion, and language among immigrant Arab Muslim families generally (Clyne, 2003;Clyne & Kipp, 1999;Rouchdy, 2002). Additionally, the Arabic language seems to act as a unifying force among Arabic-speaking immigrants and consequently contributes to their sense of 'shared Arabness.'…”

“…The Arabic language, therefore, serves as a core value that intertwines with other core values such as religion and historical consciousness. According to Clyne (2003), the role of language as a core value is usually enhanced in such situations, i.e. when language is linked with other cultural core values, since this would necessitate the use of language for particular purposes such as using Arabic for reading the Qur'an and performing the five daily prayers.…”

“…Research on immigrant children in numerous multilingual contexts around the world shows that maintaining a stable active bilingualism in the minority (L1) and majority (L2) language is difficult to achieve because as soon as immigrant children become exposed to the L2 in their host society, they are more likely to experience a gradual process of language shift toward the L2 (Clyne, 2003;Fillmore, 1991;Kaufman, 2001;Pauwels, 2005;Shin, 2005). Thus, the dilemma facing immigrant children, as described by Fillmore (2000) and others, may be viewed as less a problem of learning the dominant mainstream language than of heritage language loss.…”

The attitudes of bilingual Arab immigrant children to their languages

“…A typical pattern for minority immigrant families arriving in their new places of relocation is to find themselves members of a minority group interacting with a more powerful majority group which is culturally and linguistically different (Clyne, 2003;Fishman, 1989). In this regard, many immigrant children find themselves living with two languages in the host country: a minority language spoken by their parents who strive to pass it on to them through the use of a variety of strategies and a majority language in which they are heavily immersed in its natural and dominant environment.…”