LING2040 Languages in Contact:
2nd semester, 2006-07
Friday 10:40-12:30, LE3
Lecturers: Dr. S. Matthews <matthews@hkucc.hku.hk>, Dr. Umberto Ansaldo
Tutors: Ms. Elaine Lau <eniale@hku.hk>, Mr. Antonio Cheung <antonioc@graduate.hku.hk>
All languages show some effect of contact with other languages. This course will
introduce basic concepts in language contact including code-mixing and lexical borrowing,
language shift and substrate influence. It will then focus on the most striking cases of "contact
languages" – pidgins and creoles – and the challenges and opportunities they present to
linguistics. The course will feature audio-visual materials illustrating contact languages such as
Singapore Colloquial English, Macau Portuguese creole and Mauritian French creole.
From April 13 lectures will be given by Dr Umberto Ansaldo of the University of
Amsterdam. Topics will include the social and structural typology of contact languages, with
illustrations from Asian languages such as Macanese and Sri Lanka Malay.
Students taking the Field Trip to Mauritius are required to take this course. Preparatory
classes on Mauritian Creole and the Field Trip will take place in the Field Trip slot (Wednesday
9:30-10:30) beginning on March 21.
Web support: Supporting materials will be linked to the course web page, including
 Syllabus, linked to lecture notes
 Details of tutorials and assignments
 Discussion page for questions and answers
(see http://www.hku.hk/linguist/program/contactdisc.html)
Coursework assessment: 100% by coursework. Grades will be based on a dossier made up of
work done through the semester and (re-)submitted at the end of term, consisting of:
 Midterm quiz (multiple choice: 25%)
 Tutorial assignments (30%)
 Term project (25%)
 Attendance and participation (including contributions to discussion page/bulletin board: 20%)
Attendance at three tutorials is required. Participation includes discussion during lectures and
tutorials as well as by e-mail and on the discussion page. Provisional grades will be given
together with feedback on assignments during the semester. The complete dossier should be
submitted by May 18, 2007. The term project should be a study of a particular contact language
(e.g. Tok Pisin, Baba Malay), or a general issue of language contact (e.g. substrate influence,
reduplication in contact languages, creoles as a typological class). Other topics may be possible
by negotiation with the instructors. Web-based projects are encouraged, as they can incorporate
media such as sound files and maps, as well as saving paper. Joint projects are welcome, but
individual students should take responsibility for particular parts of the paper and indicate this.
Course Textbook:
Sebba, Mark. Contact Languages: Pidgins and Creoles. London, Macmillan, 1997.
Other recommended textbooks:
Holm, J. 1988. An Introduction to Pidgins and Creoles. Cambridge University Press.
Romaine, S. 1988. Pidgin and Creole Languages. London: Longman.
Singh, Ishtla. 2000. Pidgins and Creoles. Oxford University Press.
Thomason, S. 2000. Language Contact: an Introduction. Edinburgh University Press.
Winford, D. 2003. An Introduction to Contact Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Reference books:
Arends, J., P.Muysken & N, Smith (eds). 1994. Pidgins and Creoles: an Introduction.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Corne, Chris. 1999. From French to Creole. University of Westminster Press.
Holm, J. 1988. Pidgins and Creoles (2 volumes). Cambridge University Press.
Thomason, S. & T. Kaufmann. 1988. Language Contact, Creolization and Genetic
Linguistics. University of California Press.