- •Lecture 1 the essence of language communication
- •1.1 Communication Theory
- •1.2 Methods & Main Lines of Research in Communicative Studies
- •1.3 Defining Communication
- •Main Functions of Interpersonal Language Communication:
- •1.4 Typology of Communication
- •1.5 Models of Communication
- •1.6 Ethnography of Communication
- •References
- •Lectures 2 Language as the Medium of Human Communication.
- •Language from the Standpoint of Culture and Cognition
- •2. Spoken versus Written Language
- •3. Lexical Density
- •4. Indicating Status
- •5. Footing
- •6. Protecting Face
- •Lecture 3 Conversational Communication and Types of Communicative Messages:
- •Verbal, Non-Verbal.
- •The Process of Conversation.
- •2. Managing Conversation
- •3. Maintaining Conversation
- •4. The Nature of Verbal / Non-Verbal Messages
- •5. The Relative Importance of Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
- •Lecture 4 Pragmatic Aspect of Language Communication
- •4.1 Defining Pragmatics
- •4.2 Cooperation and Implicature
- •4.3 Hedges
- •4.4 Speech Acts and Events
- •4.5 Conditions for the Performance of Speech Acts
- •4.6 Direct and Indirect Speech Acts
- •Lecture 5 Language Contact as an Outcome of Language Communication
- •5.1 The Subject Matter of Contact Linguistics
- •5.2 History of Research on Language Contact
- •5.3 The Field of Contact Linguistics
- •5.4 Types of Contact Situation
- •5.5 Language Creation: New Contact Languages
- •Lecture 6 Language Contact and Linguistic Variation: Style, Social Class, Sex, Gender, Ethnicity
- •6.1 Language and Social Class
- •6.2 Style
- •6.3 Style as the Second Main Dimension of Linguistic Variation
- •6.4 Function versus Structure
- •6.5 Overview of Approaches to Style
- •6.6 Language and Gender / Sex
- •Lecture 7 Language Contact and Linguistic Convergence
- •7.1 Sprachbund: Contact Across Contiguous
- •7.2 Substratum, Superstratum, Adstratum
- •7.3 Balkanisms as an Example of Language Convergence
- •7.4 Language Contact and Phonological Change
7.2 Substratum, Superstratum, Adstratum
When the original inhabitants adopt the language of the newcomers, we may assume that during the period of bilingualism they speak the new language with a certain degree of interference from their primary language. If after the shift these elements fromthe primary language are transmitted to later generations of speakers of the prevailing language, they constitute the substratum of that language [9, p. 75]. Typically, the substratumaffects the phonology of the adopted language, but other kinds of interference may likewise be found; in general the effects of a substratum are comparable to the influence of a bilingual speaker’s mother tongue on his secondary language.
When the newcomers are linguistically absorbed into the indigenous population, the influence of their language, the superstratum, is comparable to the influence of a bilingual’s secondary language upon his primary language. Superstratum influences are usually found in the lexicon, but they may affect other aspects of the language as well [10, p. 3].
In the literature the terms substratum and superstratum are frequently applied to languages occupying the LowandHigh ends of the prestige scale inmultilingual diglossia [2; 8; 11]. This is understandable, since in many cases the newcomers have been military conquerors and therefore have been in a dominant position, whereas the conquered indigenous populations have been in a subordinate position. In the present discussion the terms will be used to refer to language contact situations inwhich a language shift has taken placewithout implications of inferiority or superiority.The choice of the termis simply determined by the direction of the shift. If the indigenous population speaks language A and the newcomers speak language B, and if speakers of A shift to B, then A constitutes the substratumof B. If, on the other hand, speakers of B shift to A, then B constitutes the superstratum for A.
In a Sprachbund situation the languages entering into the linguistic alliance are said to stand in adstratum relationship to each other. Adstratum presupposes language maintenance for a substantial period of time [5, p. 18].
Awidely studied language convergence area is found on the Balkan peninsula. The languages participating in the Balkan Sprachbund belong to several more or less closely related families. Three Slavic languages are members of the Sprachbund: Bulgarian, Macedonian and the southeastern dialects of Serbocroatian. The other main languages of the Sprachbund are likewise Indo-European: Albanian, Modern Greek, Romanian.Historically, the nowextinct Indo-European languages Illyrian
and Thracian as well as Latin and Ancient Greek may be assumed to have played a role. Later the non-Indo-European languages of several waves of conquering invaders – Avars, Bulgars, Hungarians, Turks – entered into the picture [22]. The complex history of the Balkans has seen developments inwhich the language of one set of invaders constitutes the dominant language until the other invasion, when it becomes the subordinate language, ultimately emerging victoriouswhen the invaders have been absorbed. Substratum, superstratumand adstratuminlluences have to be taken into consideration in attempting to explain the causes of Balkan linguistic convergence.