Language Contact and Change: Multiple and Bimodal Bilingual Minorities
The colloquium at the International Conference on Minority Languages XII aims at
creating an interdisciplinary colloquium that brings together typologically diverse
autochtonous languages, focusing on but not confined to signed, Uralic and Caucasian
languages. We explore language change phenomena that characterize multiple linguistic
minorities.
On the one hand, we explore the situation of bimodal bilingualism. We build on the
insights of a previous workshop in Uppsala (2008): there are more forms of linguistic
diversity than traditionally assumed. In particular, we find that there exist different, less
explored forms of bilingualism, such as bimodal bilingualism combined with
bilingualism in other minority languages. Data from changes in bimodal bilingual
contexts may well lead to new insights into bilingualism, the typology and structure of
languages, and language change and contact in general. In addition, we found that
research into bimodal bilingualism can draw upon several methods and approaches
developed for studying the bilingualism of other minority languages, and vice versa.
On the other hand, we know that it is difficult to reach the bilingual individuals and
communities that are deaf and belong to several linguistic minorities. Therefore, we
approach the topic via the expertise coming from the studies of the individual minority
languages in general. More specifically, we also concentrate on the issue of language
change in contact in the context of a typologically wide range of minority languages.
Via individual studies on different cases, we try to find answers to questions such as the
following:
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How do Deaf children of hearing parents belonging to linguistic minorities (e.g.,
Nganasan) communicate with the Deaf communities in their own country and
with their own parents?
How does their language change?
How can we test the change in the structure of the languages in contact in a
uniform way?
Do signers form their structures as in the minority or a majority language, e.g., as
in Nganasan or as in Russian, or in a different way?
What are the factors that influence the developments?
Can we work towards a typology?
The target languages and the types of bilingualism are novel. Therefore, these questions
have no answers yet, and no single specialists. Our workshop aims at answering them in
collaboration, convening expertise from various disciplines:
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sign linguistics
sociolinguistics
theoretical linguistics
linguistic typology
field linguistics
(near-)native expertise of the individual languages
Therefore, the talks of our colloquium center around the following topics:
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issues of structures and change in sign languages
code-switching (bi- and mono-modal bilingualism)
contact-induced lexical and grammatical change
structures of bimodal bilingualism and language change
classifying variation and change in uniform tests (e.g., Caucasian and Uralic
Russian minority languages, based Dahl’s questionnaire and its applicability to
sign languages)
theoretical and typological issues such as changes in the verb and argument/case
system and the TAM categories
sociolinguistic aspects of bilingualism
documentation and database building
Invited Keynote Talks
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Csilla Bartha (hearing) (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) The situation of the
Deaf and national minorities in Hungary
Östen Dahl (hearing) (Stockholm University) Contact induced changes in tense
and aspect systems
Tatiana Davidenko (Deaf) (Moscow Centre for Deaf Studies and Bilingual
Education), Sign Language Diversity in Post-Soviet Countries (translation from
the RSL into English by Anna Komarova)
Anna Komarova (hearing) (Moscow Centre for Deaf Studies and Bilingual
Education), Development of Bilingual Education of the Deaf in Post-Soviet
Countries
Johanna Mesch (Deaf) (Stockholm University) Variations in tactile signing - the
case of one-handed signing
Helle Metslang (hearing) (University of Tartu) Changes in Finnish and Estonian
tense and aspect systems
Dates
Abstract submission Deadline passed
Notification
February 19, 2009
Workshop
May 28-29, 2009
Organizers (contact: tartulcc at gmail.com)
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Nino Amiridze, Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
Östen Dahl, University of Stockholm (Sweden)
Anne Tamm, University of Florence (Italy) and Institute for the Estonian
Language (Estonia)
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Manana Topadze, University of Pavia (Italy)
Inge Zwitserlood, Radboud University Nijmegen, Max Planck Institute for
Psycholinguistics (The Netherlands)
Submission (deadline passed)
Abstracts (in English, maximum 2 pages, including data and references) have to be
submitted electronically as portable document format (.pdf) or Microsoft Word (.doc)
files via the EasyChair conference management system.
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Account" on that page and follow the instructions. When you receive a password, you
can enter the site and upload your abstract.