LSA 216: Linguistic effects of language attrition and shift

Carmel O'Shannessy | session 2 | TuTh 3:30 – 5:15, 179 Stanley Hall

The course will explore changes that take place within languages and speech communities when the dynamics of language use changes, so that languages spoken less often come to be spoken more often, and others come to be spoken less often. We will examine the linguistic processes occurring in use of the languages from which speakers are shifting and those to which they are shifting, including creation of new mixed languages or varieties. We will examine the interplay of language learning and attrition through individuals' dynamic use of first and second languages in these complex situations.

Reading: Selected materials available online.

Areas of linguistics: Areal and historical linguistics; Sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology; Languages of Australia and the Pacific