Abstract: This book proposes a new methodological approach to documenting languages spoken in multilingual and socially and linguistically heterogeneous and dynamic contexts. Tracing the investigation of one unique linguistic space, the English-lexified creole language called Takitaki in multilingual French Guiana, the book illustrates how interactional sociolinguistic, discourse analytical and quantitative sociolinguistic approaches can be fruitfully integrated with structural approaches to language in order to systematically resolve dicey but rarely theorised/discussed questions (what are the outlines of the community, who is a rightful speaker, what speech to document etc) that frequently crop up in projects of language documentation in multilingual contexts. The authors argue that comprehensively documenting complex linguistic phenomena requires taking into account the views of all local social actors (speakers, institutions, linguists, non-speakers etc), applying a range of complementary data collection and analysis methods and putting issues of ideology, variation, language contact and interaction centre stage.
Abstract: This volume deals with some never before described morphosyntactic variations and changes appearing in settings involving language contact. Contact-induced changes are defined as dynamic and multiple, involving internal change as well as historical and sociolinguistic factors. The identification of a variety of explanations constitutes a first step; analyzing their relationships forms a second. Only a multifaceted methodology enables this fine-grained approach to contact-induced change. A range of methodologies are proposed, but the chapters generally have their roots in a typological perspective. The contributors recognize the precautionary principle: for example, they emphasize the difficulty of studying languages that have not been described adequately and for which diachronic data are not extensive or reliable.
Three main perspectives on contact-induced language change are presented. The first explores the role of multilingual speakers in contact-induced language change, especially their spontaneous innovations in discourse. The second explores the differences between ordinary contact-induced change and change in endangered languages. The third discusses various aspects of the relationship between contact-induced change and internal change.
