Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gardani, Francesco
• Loporcaro, Michele
• Giudici, Alberto

Titel

In and Around the Balkans: Romance Languages and the Making of Layered Languages

Ist Teil von

• Journal of language contact, 2021-09, Vol.14 (1), p.1-23

Ort / Verlag

Leiden: Brill

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract The languages of the Balkans are a rich source of data on contact-induced language change. The result of a centuries long process of lexical and structural convergence has been referred to as a 'sprachbund'. While widely applied, this notion has, however, increasingly been questioned with respect to its usefulness. Addressing the linguistic makeup of the Balkan languages, the notion of sprachbund is critically assessed. It is shown that a) the Balkan languages and the Balkan linguistic exclaves (Albanian and Greek spoken on the Italian peninsula) share similar contact-induced phenomena, and b) the principal processes underlying the development of the Balkan languages are borrowing and reanalysis, two fundamental and general mechanisms of language change.