LING 122: ENGLISH AS A WORLD
LANGUAGE - 16
Language Contact:
Cross Linguistic
Influence
Reading: Huebner
Language Contact:

A situation of geographical continuity or close social
proximity between languages or dialects, so that a
degree of bilingualism comes to exist within a
community. The languages then begin to influence
each other, such as by introducing loan words or
making changes in pronunciation.

(David Crystal, 1992. An Encyclopedic Dictionary of
Language and Languages, Oxford: Blackwell, p. 216.)
 Examples?
Language Contact often results in…
 Borrowing (Load words)
 Bilingualism (Individual and/or societal)
 Balanced, dominant, passive, semilingual
 Code switching
 Inter- and intra-sentential
 Contact-influenced language change
 Phonological, lexical, syntactic, orthographic
 Mixed forms of language
 e.g., ‘Spanglish, Chinglish, Taglish, etc.
 Pidgins and creoles
 Caribbean, West African, Pacific, etc.
Code switching – Latino
(Hispanic) English
 There is no homogeneous Latino dialect.




Puerto Rican English
Cuban English
Chicano English
Etc.
 Bilingual Latinos engage in code-switching.
 My mom fixes tamales verdes
 Mi mamá hace green tamales
 *My mom fixes verdes tamales.
Why do people engage in code-switching?
What are linguistic
landscapes?
 Landry and Bourhis (1997, cited in Shohamy
et al. 2001) define “linguistic landscape” as all
linguistic tokens “which mark the public
sphere, including road signs, names of sites,
streets, buildings, places and institutions as
well as advertising billboards, commercials
and even personal visit cards.”
Where to witness language contact:
Linguistic Landscapes
What can we learn from
linguistic landscapes?
 The overt language policies of the state.
 The status and power relations within a given speech
community.
 The values, aspirations, cultural identity of that
community.
 The social structure of the community.
 The effects of globalization and language contact on
the languages themselves.
What is a speech community?
 “... any human aggregate characterized by regular and
frequent interaction by means of a shared body of verbal
signs and set off from similar aggregates by significant
differences in language usage. ... The speech varieties
employed within a speech community form a system because
they are related to a shared set of social norms" (Gumperz
1968)
 "A community sharing rules for the conduct and
interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at
least one linguistic variety.” (Hymes 1972)
 “... a group of people who do not necessarily share the same
language, but share a set of norms and rules for the use of
language. The boundaries between speech communities are
essentially social rather than linguistic.” (Romaine 1994)
What fascinated me about printed
language in the public space in Bangkok
–
 Is there any pattern to the use of language? If
so, what is it?
 What do the residents of Bangkok perceive of
and feel about the use of language in the
public space?
 What influence if any does the use of
language mixing in the public space have on
the languages involved?
Bangkok:
Some demographic
facts
 Bangkok, the capital of Thailand,
has a population of about 9 million.
Bangkok has a true international
culture with a sizable population of
immigrants from China, Japan,
India, America, Europe, Taiwan,
South Korea, Nigeria, Malaysia and
Singapore. Bangkok is also
believed to be a host for a good
number (approx. 400 – 600
thousand) of illegal immigrants
from Cambodia, Myanmar
(Burma), Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan,
Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, China,
and other countries.
Some Bangkok
neighborhoods
Some Bangkok neighborhoods
My students and I looked at fifteen neighborhoods
in central and suburban Bangkok which they felt
would reflect some of the linguistic diversity of
the city .







Pathum Thani
Thanon Phichai
Koh Kret
Henri Dunont
Phra Athit
Charoen Krung
Yawarat








Saphan Han
Siam Square
Sukhumvit
Sky Train
Khao San
Thong Law
Thaniya
Soi Nana
Speech Communities
Results
 All Bangkok signs by script
 Government vs. non-government signs
 Signs by neighborhoods





Pathum Thani, Thanon Phichai, Koh Kret
Henri Dunont, Phra Athit
Charoen Krung, Yawarat
Saphan Han, Siam Square, Sukhumvit, Sky Train
Khao San, Thong Law, Thaniya, Soi Nana
 Code switching in signs
 Language ideology in signs
 Conclusions
Figure 1:
Bangkok Signs by Script
OTHER, 91,
15%
T / C, 17, 3%
T, 158, 26%
T
R
T / R / C, 38,
6%
T/R
T/R/C
R, 106, 17%
T / R, 203,
33%
T/C
OTHER
Figure 2: Bangkok Signs by Script and
Source (Government vs. Non-government)
60
50
40
Govern.
30
Non-gov.
20
10
0
Thai
Rom an
T/R
T / R/ C
T/C
Other
Government vs.
non-government signs
 Government signs reflect official government
language policy.
 Non-government signs reflect the ideologies
of the speech communities in which they
appear.
Language Policy
in the Linguistic Landscape
Signs by neighborhoods
 Monolingual Thai neighborhoods
 Pathum Thani, Thanon Phichai, Koh Kret
 Balanced monolingual Thai and Bilingual Thai-
English neighborhoods
 Henri Dunont, Phra Athit
 Thai/Chinese Multilingual Sign Neighborhoods
 Charoen Krung, Yawarat
 Thai/English Bilingual Sign Neighborhoods
 Saphan Han, Siam Square, Sukhumvit, Sky Train
 Non-Thai Dominant Neighborhoods
 Khao San, Thong Law, Thaniya, Soi Nana
Monolingual Thai neighborhoods
Balanced monolingual Thai and Bilingual
Thai-English neighborhoods
Thai/Chinese Multilingual Sign
Neighborhoods
Thai/English Bilingual Sign
Neighborhoods
Non-Thai Dominant Neighborhoods
Code-Switching –
The standard definition
 The concurrent use of more than one
language, or language variety, in
conversation. Multilinguals—people who
speak more than one language—sometimes
use elements of multiple languages in
conversing with each other. Thus, codeswitching is the use of more than one
linguistic variety in a manner consistent with
the syntax and phonology of each variety.
Code-Switching
in the Linguistic Landscape
Reh’s (2004) taxonomy of multilingual information
arrangement
1) Duplicating, - all information presented in both
languages;
2) Fragmentary - all information in Language A; some in
Language B
3) Overlapping - some but not all of the information
contained in Language B is also contained in
Language B, and vice versa;
4) Complementary - two or more languages convey
completely different content.
Code-Switching
in the Linguistic Landscape
Duplicating
Fragmentary
Hybridity
in the Linguistic Landscape
‘Golf Center Lynx’
‘K. L. Fashion House’
Hybridity
in the Linguistic Landscape
Language, Identity
and the Contestation of Space
Language, Identity
and the Contestation of Space
Language, Identity
and the Contestation of Space
Conclusions
 English in Bangkok is not always directed at foreigners.
 The linguistic variation across neighborhoods is more






diverse than sometimes assumed.
How language is used in signs doesn’t always reflect
official language policy.
Signs reflect the relative power and social status of
various groups within a given community.
Signs reflect the nature of the activities these groups are
engaged in.
Code switching occurs in signs and often results in hybrid
varieties.
Signs reflect the language ideologies of the speech
communities in which they appear.
Over time, variation in language use patterns across older
vs. newer neighborhoods can provide hints about
changing patterns of language use.
THANK YOU