| Assessment: |
The course will be assessed 100% by coursework. Grades will be based on a dossier made up of work done through the semester and (re-)submitted at the end of term, consisting of:
Midterm quiz (multiple choice: 25%)
Tutorial assignments (3: 30%)
Term paper (25%)
Attendance and participation (20%)
Attendance at three tutorials is required. The term paper should be a study of a particular contact language (e.g. Tok Pisin, Baba Malay), or a general issue of language contact (e.g. substrate influence, reduplication in contact languages, creoles as a typological class). Other topics may be possible by negotiation with the instructor. Joint papers are encouraged, though individuals should take responsibility for particular parts of the paper and indicate this.
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| Description: |
No language exists in isolation and all show some effect of contact with other languages. The course will introduce basic concepts in language contact such as code-mixing, lexical borrowing, language shift and language creation. We focus on contact languages – including pidgins and creoles – and the challenges and opportunities they present to linguistics. The course is especially relevant to students interested in East-West contacts and the pre-colonial and colonial linguistic ecologies of Monsoon Asia such as Sri Lanka, the Malay/Indonesian archipelago and the Pearl River Delta. |
| Reference: |
Recommended Textbooks:
Arends, J., P. Muysken & N, Smith (eds). 1994. Pidgins and Creoles: an Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Corne, C. 1999. From French to Creole: the development of new vernaculars in the French colonial world. University of Westminster Press.
Holm, J. 2000. An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles. Cambridge University Press.
Romaine, S. Pidgins and Creole Languages. London: Longman.
Singh, I. 2000. Pidgins and Creoles: an Introduction. London: Arnold.
Thomason, S. 2000. Language Contact: an Introduction. Edinburgh University Press.
Reference books:
Holm, J. 1988. An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles. Vol. 1: Theory and Structure, Vol. II: Reference Survey. Cambridge University Press.
Smith, G. and S. Matthews. 1996. Pidgins and Creoles. In Comrie, Matthews & Polinsky (eds), The Atlas of Languages. New York: Facts on File.
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