Language Contact

1. Language Contact presented by Michael L. Friesner August 6, 2007 Thank you to Gillian Sankoff for sending me her PPT slides (among other things).

2. Two Main Types ofLanguage Contact • Agent: Nonnative speakers affecting a language they come to speak • “language shift” • interference (or sometimes “imposition”) • L2 effects • Agent: Native speakers adopting nonnative features • “language contact through maintenance” • borrowing • influence on L1 • (Third type: Extreme Contact = Formation of Contact Languages—pidgins and creoles)

3. The Data I’m Using to Demonstrate • 2004-2005: A Sociolinguistic Study of Northeast Philadelphia (Friesner, Dinkin, and Wallenberg) • Speakers = native Russian and English speakers in Northeast Philadelphia • 2006-2008: The Outcomes of Borrowing in Montréal (Friesner) • Speakers = native French and Spanish speakers in Montréal (mostly in French) • 1993: The L2 Corpus of Anglo-Montrealers (Sankoff et al.) • Speakers = bilingual native English and French speakers in Montréal (in both languages)

4. Reasons for Languages to Be in Contact • war/conquest • colonialism • slavery • forced migration but also... • voluntary migration • intermarriage • trade often (always?) results in social inequality between language groups...

5. Influence of Contact on Society • Stable bilingualism (usually a lot of borrowing, esp. into less dominant language) • India, Québec, Belgium, large parts of Africa • Language shift • immigrant communities, communities that end up in a different country because of conquest/border changes

6. Influence on Language • Interference (L2 effects) • most frequently affects structure: syntax, phonology (“accent”), word choices (“interlingual identifications”) • may only be features of nonnative speakers, but in high contact situations may be incorporated into the language as a whole (e.g., Irish pronunciation and structures in Irish English) • bilingual communities also often code-switch • Borrowing (influence on L1) • most frequently affects lexicon • some words may only be used by those who master both languages, while others may be used by the community as a whole • especially used to express concepts that were introduced through cultural contact (tons of these in English: taco, lo mein, matzah ball, spaghetti)

7. Interference: Vincent, Age 24 (1993) What is Vincent saying? I work(ed) uh three summer(s) in uh Bitumar -- asphált prodúcts

8. Interference: Marina, Age 25 (2004) (Did you fight with anyone here?) a Of course, my neighbor from upstairs. b He hates my guts. c He called cops* on me three times. (Is that the same one with the-- uh-- trash, or a different-- ?) d Uh-huh! He hates me. Oh he hates me! (So, when else di- when else did he call the cops on you?) f Um-- he called once g and he said that I was throwing the-- uh-- the cooking, um-- what is it called, the cooking, um-- (oil, or the-- ? no--) ______ * Examples of lexical or structural infelicities are in red

9. Interference: Marina, Age 25 (2004) h The plita, uh-- (the- the oven???) Yeah. Like that oven, look at it. i The whole oven. The whole thing! j --that I was throwin’ it out of the window, k actually, I threw it out-- threw it out of the window! l You knowwhat was my question? m Not that I didn’t do it. n You know what was the first thing I said? o “How did I picked it up?” {laugh} p I mean, it’s the size of me, the damn thing! q I mean, it takes some moron to come up with something like that.

10. Interference: Marina, Age 25 (2004) r Like, how much can you hate me to come up with something stupid like that? (But, it was-- there was no basis for-- where did he get that idea?) s He was just-- he’s a very lonely man. t He’s uh-- he’s a-- he likes-- [note: CODE SWITCH to Russian, a language spoken by interviewer M.F., to describe the neighbor in very unflattering terms] u He’s about fifty-five or sixty. v He’s very lonely. w He lives in a very, very small space. x And, you know, he uses drugs, y he doesn’t work, z he says all the time that his back hurts, aa and he lives on the welfare and stuff--

11. Borrowing • What constitutes a borrowing • e.g., are expressions like “Hasta la vista” and “déjà vu” part of the English language, or not? • How do words change pronunciation when they are borrowed into another language?“Clara” • Phonological adaptation (Spanish r -> English r)“Clara” • Phonetic adaptation (Spanish r -> English d/t)“Clodda”/”Clotta” • Importation of nonnative segments (Spanish r -> Spanish r (in English))(pronounced as in Spanish) • What factors affect pronunciation & use of loanwords? • language internal factors (difficulty of the sound, distance between the two languages, type of word) • external factors (degree of bilingualism of individual and community, style, age, social class, attitudes) • orthography(=spelling)

12. Loanwords in French • Variables in adaptation: • /r/ (posterior [R], retroflex [r], (or apical)) • /h/ (present or absent in loanword) “hip-hop” / “rap”hhr Michèle, 22, grad student, int. Eng. Ø Ø R Nathalie, 32, adv. deg., int. Eng., teacher h h r Murielle, 24, grad student, int. Eng. h h R Nathan, 34, univ., low Eng., job placer Ø Ø r Mélanie, 24, comm. coll., low Eng., baker h Ø r

13. Variable: Gender Assignment (ex. = “sandwich”) Un club-sandwich, puis un sandwich au smoked meat, ça, c’est vraiment différent... (Michèle, 22, univ. +, grad student, int. Eng.) ‘A club sandwich and a smoked meat sandwich, those are really different...’ Euh- club-sandwich, c’est- um- c’est un sandwich, trois étages, au poulet- euh- tomates, laitue- euh- puis c’est à peu près ça... (Daniel, 24, univ. +, grad. student, fluent Eng.) ‘A club sandwich is a sandwich with three levels, with chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, and that’s about it...’ La sandwich au smoked meat, c’est typiquement montréalais, ça, le smoked meat, euh- c’est un- disons, c’est une sandwich juste avec deux tranches de pain... (François, 29, adv. deg., engineer, fluent Eng.) ‘A smoked meat sandwich is typical of Montreal, smoked meat, and it’s- um- a sandwich with just two slices of bread.’ Et une sandwich au smoked meat, c’est une sandwich avec de la viande fumée, donc c’est totalement différent, c’est- euh- c’est une sandwich ordinaire mais avec de la viande fumée à l’intérieur. (Nicolas, 24, Grade 11, bartender, int. Eng.) ‘A smoked meat sandwich is a sandwich with smoked meat, so it’s totally different, it’s an ordinary sandwich but with smoked meat inside.’

14. Borrowing by social class and Level of English (examples with proper names, comparing English and French pronunciations) “Harper will choose this man” ~ “Harper revoit son cabinet” (‘Harper reexamines his cabinet’) “Minister Rona Ambrose” ~ “La ministre Rona Ambrose” (=) Mireille, 47, Grade 8, bar employee, very little English Nicolas, 24, Grade 11, bartender, intermediate English Chantal, 24, univ. +, medical student, low int. English Daniel, 24, univ. +, graduate student, fluent English

15. Borrowing = community norms <ll> (also orthography) Ben, il fait des ceviches, des- euh- des paellas. (Laura, 24, child of Uruguayan immigrants) ‘Well, he makes ceviches, and- uh- paellas.’ ...entre unos tres puen- tres punto doce- dos millones de Montreale(n)ses... (Laura in Spanish reading passage) ‘...among the approximately 3.2 million Montrealers...’ Ben, les paellas sont- sont bonnes. (Domingo, 25, Mexican, immigrated at age 21) ‘Well, the paellas are- are good.’

16. The pronunciation of borrowings is subject to style shifting (examples from Domingo) LIST STYLE (most formal): Uh- burrito, enchilada et fajitas. READING STYLE: On aime s’y réchauffer en dégustant des fajitas, un molé typiquement mexicain, des enchiladas tierra blanca, des burritos ou même des crevettes sautées à la tequila. ‘People like warming up there while tasting fajitas, a typically Mexican mole, enchiladas tierra blanca, burritos, or even tequila-sauteed shrimp.’ SPEAKING STYLE: Mais, c’est quoi, la différence? Uh- les burritos et la fa- les fajitas, c’est pas de la bouffe mexicaine, c’est de la bouffe du sud des É- des États-Unis... ‘But, what’s the difference? Uh- burritos and fajitas are not Mexican food, they’re food from the southern United States...’ Je pense que la différence entre le burrito puis la enchilada, c’est qu’il y a pas de sauce sur les burritos. ‘I think that the difference between a burrito and an enchilada is that there’s no sauce on burritos.’

17. There may be variation according to age in both loanword pronunciation and which loanwords are used (e.g., “hovercraft”) • Murielle, age 24 - “J’avais jamais vu le mot hovercraft.”I’ve never seen the word hovercraft before. • Nathalie, age 32 - “Hovercraft, je connais pas.” Hovercraft, I don’t know it. • Sébastien, age 37 - “Hovercraft- c’est la première fois que je vois ce mot-là.” Hovercraft- this is the first time I’ve seen this word. • Alice, age 53 - “Hovercraft - aéroglisseur, c’est la même chose- même, même, même, même chose.” Hovercraft - aéroglisseur, it’s the same thing- the same exact thing. • Maryse, age 58 - “Hovercraft - aéroglisseur, pour moi c’est la même chose. Au début quand j’en ai entendu parler de l’aéroglisseur, on l’appelait l’hovercraft, mais voilà.” Hovercraft - aéroglisseur, for me it’s the same thing. Early on when I heard talk about the aéroglisseur, they called it a hovercraft, but there you go.

18. Language attitudes may affect pronunciation and can be gleaned from interviews Comments on which language is necessary for a job by two bilingual speakers: Daniel, age 24 C’est assez facile d’avoir une job si tu parles juste français; c’est assez tough d’avoir une job si tu parles juste anglais. Uh- c’est ça, c’est toujours un atout de parler en anglais, euh- mais c’est pas- c’est pas- c’est pas si nécessaire que ça quand même. ‘It’s pretty easy to get a job if you speak only French; it’s pretty tough to get a job if you speak only English. Uh- that’s right, it’s always an asset to speak in English, but it’s not all that necessary anyway.’ Philippe, age 26 Je trouve que ça devient de plus en plus dur de parler français à Montréal... ‘I find that it’s becoming harder and harder to speak French in Montreal...’ Quelqu’un qui parle pas un mot d’anglais trouvera jamais une job. ‘Someone who doesn’t speak a word of English will never find a job.’

19. So, in English... Some cases of variation in adaptation patterns: • /x/: Chanukah / Bach / Loch Ness • bruschetta (/sk/ vs. /∫/) • stress differences (U.S. garáge vs. Brit. gárage)