Abstract
Syntactic change in contact is generally explained as a result of cognitive, structural/typological, or sociolinguistic factors. However, the relative weight of these factors in shaping the outputs of contact is yet to be assessed. In this paper, we propose a microcontact approach to the study of change in contact, focusing on microsyntactic points of variation across multiple language pairs that are structurally very close. We show that this approach makes it possible to more accurately identify some of the factors that are involved in change. By considering three case studies centered on the syntax of subjects, objects, and indexicals, we show that the outputs of syntactic change in microcontact diverge from what is expected under otherwise solid generalizations (avoidance of indeterminacy, avoidance of silence, the Interface Hypothesis, a tendency towards simplification, and the general stability of the indexical domain) regarding change in contact. Microcontact offers a finer-grained point of observation, allowing us to go beyond broader typological assumptions and to focus on the link between structure and cognition. The results of our case studies demonstrate that the outputs of change in contact are an interplay between cognitive and structural factors (see also Muysken 2013 for additional processing considerations), and that the micro-variational dimension is crucial in drawing a precise picture of heritage language syntax.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-36 |
Journal | Glossa |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement ERC CoG 681959_MicroContact).
Funding Information:
This research received funding by the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s).
Keywords
- heritage languages
- microcontact
- microvariation
- Romance languages
- structural similarity
- syntactic change in contact