The purpose of the studies presented in this book is to analyze a fundamental question for researchers interested in the linguistic consequences of language contact; that is, the role played by differences in typology. Are there particular constraints in regard to the different structures that can be transferred from one language to another when the donor and the recipient languages differ considerably in their typology?

All the contributions in this volume deal with languages spoken in America. The comparison of the typological characteristics of the languages is a prerequisite for the study of contact in different sociolinguistic situations. The papers illustrate different types of contact-induced changes, analyzing consequences of linguistic contact at morphosyntactic and prosodic levels, taking into account a cross-linguistic typological perspective. They show that although any linguistic feature can be transferred, some hierarchies may be drawn and that typological aspects of the languages involved in a contact situation put certain constraints on the type of what may be borrowed. Some contributions also point out the relevance of sociolinguistic and pragmatic factors in linguistic changes in settings involving contact.

Table of contents

Introduction

“Sticky” Discourse Markers in Language Contact between Unrelated Languages: Tojolab’al (Mayan) and Spanish Mary Jill Brody

Some Typological Differences between Chuj and Tojolabal Cristina Buenrostro

(Changing) Word Prosody in Nahuatl Una Canger

On the development of analytic constructions in Purepecha Claudine Chamoreau

Typological Differences among Middle Constructions in some Uto-Aztecan Languages Zarina Estrada Fernández and Rolando Félix Armendáriz

Language Contact and Language Typology: Anything Goes, but not Quite Ewald Hekking, Dik Bakker, and Jorge Gómez Rendón

An Evaluation of the Linguistic Vitality of Contact Languages: the English-based Limonese Creole of Spanish-speaking Costa Rica Anita Herzfeld

Paucity of Loans in Jonaz-Chichimec Yolanda Lastra

Differences in Incorporation of Spanish Elements in Guarani Texts and Guarani Elements in Spanish Texts in Paraguayan Newspapers Lenka Zajícová

Index of subjects Index of Languages Index of Names