Thomason (linguistics, U. of Michigan) explores the contact- induced language change options in encounters between speech communities: e.g., incorporation of a few new words or sounds, new pidgin/creo
"Most of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today will vanish before the end of this century, taking with them cultural traditions from all over the world, as well as linguistic structures that w
Ten years of research back up the bold new theory advanced by authors Thomason and Kaufman, who rescue the study of contact-induced language change from the neglect it has suffered in recent decades.
"Most of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today will vanish before the end of this century, taking with them cultural traditions from all over the world, as well as linguistic structures that w