Towards a Typology of Contact-Induced Change Questions, Problems and the Path Ahead

Abstract

The fields of linguistic typology, contact linguistics and historical linguistics frequently interact with one another and each draws on the insights gained in the others. To date, however, there is no effective and systematic cooperation between these subdisciplines, no database comparing the typological distribution of features with common outcomes or mechanisms of internal change and the results of contact-induced change. Seeking to lay the foundation for just such a cooperation, this paper outlines and critically discusses the necessity, advantages and inherent limitations of a typology of contact-induced change and how it may be used to better understand language change and language contact. It suggests that a database similar to WALS or Grambank, enriched with extra-linguistic information, would be a suitable starting point for such an endeavour. At the example of contact-induced morphosyntactic alignment change, some of the concrete issues of compiling a minimal dataset for one change are illustrated and the potential for typological insights highlighted.