Stability and Divergence in Language Contact: Factors and Mechanisms(16 Studies in Language Variation)

Convergence, i.e. the increase of inter-systemic similarities, is usually considered the default development in language contact situations. This volume focuses on the other logical possibilities of diachronic development, namely stability and divergence – two well-attested, but under-researched phenomena. The contributions investigate the sociolinguistic and structural factors and mechanisms that lead to or at least reinforce both types of non-convergence, despite of language contact. The contributions cover a wide range of language contact situations, including standard and non-standard varieties.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction (by Braunmuller, Kurt); 2. Part I: Theoretical aspects; 3. Linguistic stability and divergence: An extended perspective on language contact (by Kuhl, Karoline); 4. Convergence vs. divergence from a diasystematic perspective (by Hoder, Steffen); 5. Part II: Empirical studies; 6. Stability and convergence in case marking: Low and High German (by Berg, Kristian); 7. Towards a typological classification of Judeo-Spanish: Analyzing syntax and prosody of Bulgarian judezmo (by Fischer, Susann); 8. Despite or because of intensive contact?: Internal, external and extralinguistic aspects of divergence in modern dialects and ethnolects of Dutch (by Hinskens, Frans L.); 9. Stability in Chinese and Malay heritage languages as a source of divergence (by Aalberse, Suzanne); 10. Does convergence generate stability?: The case of the Cypriot Greek koine (by Tsiplakou, Stavroula); 11. Gender and noun inflection: The fate of 'vulnerable' categories in Northern Norwegian (by Sollid, Hilde); 12. Dialect stability and divergence in southern Spain: Social and personal motivations (by Villena-Ponsoda, Juan A); 13. The Bergen dialect splits in two (by Sandoy, Helge); 14. Diachronic convergence and divergence in differential object marking between Spanish and Portuguese (by Dohla, Hans-Jorg); 15. Person index; 16. Subject index

Review :
Among the linguistic studies of contact-induced variation/change this book occupies an exceptional position. Whereas research on contact between languages and intralingual varieties traditionally focuses on convergence as a kind of natural effect of language contact and/or claims that stability is only possible when there is/was no contact at all, this book demonstrates that (1) language contact may go together with structural stability and (2) language contact may even initiate or reinforce diverging structural developments. It gives an insight into the factors and mechanisms which may trigger stability or divergence, including both sociolinguistic and structural parameters of language contact situations. Due to its innovative approach and its focus on stability and divergence in diachronic development as two under-researched phenomena, this book occupies an outstanding position in the existing literature on contact linguistics, presenting cutting-edge research on the phenomena under investigation. The authors convincingly show that both stability and divergence occur not only independently of language contact, but also as its direct outcome, taking into account both sociolinguistic and structural factors and mechanisms.