L1 Attrition and Repair in Remnant Language Islands: The Case of Kyanga (Eastern Mande, Niger Congo)

Abstract

Sociolinguistically, isolation can be seen as a speech-community event which is commonly the result of migration, e.g., if speakers from a larger speech community migrate into a language island, leading to contact-induced variation. Another type of language island results from extensive language shift when a formerly larger language area shrinks to a remnant speech community, an enclave. The literature shows, however, that in both cases ethno-linguistic vitality is precarious, and that the impact of language contact is observable at all levels. Nevertheless, the question arises as to whether contact-induced variation is sociolinguistically distinct from variation in an enclave island. The paper describes the enregisterment of semi-speech and repair strategies similar to ‘L1 creolisation’ in an endangered Eastern Mande language, Kyanga, spoken on the border of Benin/Nigeria.