Languages in Contact (HS/S Lange SoSe 2023)

Language contact is all around us: we borrow words from other languages, we might switch between our different languages, we encounter street signs and billboards using several languages in the public sphere. This course will address some of the most relevant issues in the field of Contact Linguistics. We will initially look at the most immediately obvious kind of language contact, namely loanwords and borrowing. We will also get to know about the study of multilingual linguistic landscapes. Classifications of and constraints on code-switching or code-mixing will also feature prominently; after all, language contact primarily manifests itself at the level of multilingual communicative interaction. Finally, we will discuss concepts such as superdiversity and the impact of globalization on the future of English as a contact language.

When: FRI 3.DS

Where: ABS/1-01/U