This document discusses languages and cultures in contact. It begins by looking at how dominant languages can affect minority languages through processes like diglossia, code switching, and borrowings. It then examines cases of language change and loss of distinction between forms. Several case studies on language contact are presented, including Texas German and various examples of Japanese borrowing words from English. The document goes on to discuss pidgin languages, how they differ from other languages, examples like Tok Pisin and Hawaii Pidgin. It contrasts pidgins with creoles and looks at challenges of translation between languages.

1. 12.2
Languages and
cultures in contact

2. Language change
 How does the “dominant” language affect the
“minority” language(s)?
 diglossia
 code switching
 borrowings
 semantic loans

3. Language squish
 Loss of semantic distinction between competing
forms
 ir vs irse
 indicative/subjunctive

4. Case studies
 Texas German
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwgwpUcxch4

5. ad for the street cleaning department in Berlin

6. Funny Japanglish Song for Tokyo Olympic!【
Tokyo Bon 東京盆踊り】Namewee黃明志 Ft. Meu
Ninomiya & Cool Japan TV
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhGnuWwpNxI

7. Can Japanese Speak In Pure Japanese?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Nh0wvQGYk

8.  カメラ (kamera) – “camera”
 チェック (Chekku) – “check-in”
 ホテル (hoteru) – “hotel”
 lレストラン (resutoran) – “restaurant”
 エスカレーター (esukarētā) – “escalator”

9. A S T R I K I N G O U T C O M E O F C O N T A C T
The creation of new languages

10. Pidgin languages
 Generally speaking, pidgins are makeshift languages
that arise from a need for communication between
speakers from different linguistic backgrounds.
 A pidgin always involves at least two languages
 The socially dominant one will be the point of origin
for the lexicon.
 Often seen as “debased forms” of a dominant language
(e.g., ‘broken English’).
 Pidgins have their own grammars; they are not simply
“defective varieties”.

11. Pidgins vs. other languages
 How are pidgins different from other languages?
 Pidgins aren’t an L1. They are used when speakers
speak with others outside their usual speech
community.
 Pidgins lack the range of stylistic variation
characteristic of other languages.
Used in limited context
 Pidgins have reduced vocabularies, and require less
complex and flexible grammatical/syntactic structures.
 They are “simplified” languages

12. Hawaii Pidgin
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7X9AAeDCr4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRB2QXMREm
k

13. How many Pidgins?
 There are 7,000+ languages in the world
 How many pidgins do you think there are?
 16 – (according to Ethnologue)

14. Papua New Guinea
How many
languages spoken
there?
850 – dozens of
language families

15. Tok Pisin
 English
 mother
 father
 parents
 house
 money
 bank
 look
 to know
 identity, to recognize,
recognition, to think
clearly
 Tok Pisin
 mama
 papa
 mamapapa
 haus
 moni
 monihous
 luk
 save
 luksave

16. Pidgins vs. Creoles
 Pidgins are typically short-lived. They are usually
abandoned in favor of the source language or die out
if contact ceases.
 Continued contact can cause a pidgin to develop into
a complete “language”. This is called a creole.
 English-based creoles can be found in three major
clusters: the Caribbean, West Africa and the West
Pacific.

17. Pidgin or Creole?
 Native speakers
 Product of a pidgin
 Unstable grammar/changes frequently
 Acquired as native language (L1)
 More simple sentence structure
 Not a means of group identification (Tok pleis)
 Expanded vocabulary
 Reduced vocabulary
 Stable grammar
 Product of multi-lingual environment
 Generally short-lived
 More complex sentence structure
 No native speakers

18. F R O M O N E L A N G U A G E T O A N O T H E R
Translation and interpreting

19. Translation vs. interpreting
 Have you ever translated or Interpreted between
English and your LS?
 What challenges have you encountered?

20. Why is translation challenging?
 What is the goal? Who is the reader? (translating
consent waivers)
 Compatibility: how different are the languages?
Grammatical/lexical/cultural/social difference
increases the difficulty of translation.

21. Why is translation challenging?
 Lexical and semantic challenges: as one example,
 Japanese we polish (migaku) teeth and shoes, rather
than clean them.
 Connotations of otherwise equivalent words:
 the French tu is equal to the English thou, but thou has a
religious, archaic, or marked feel that makes it an
improper translation.
 Lack of corresponding forms/meanings:
 cultural concepts are rarely a perfect match.
 Do we switch to a culturally similar term (lamp > bamboo
torch), use the term as-is, add a footnote, or...?

22. Translation challenges: grammar
 Mismatches between grammar can also make life
difficult for translators.
 Also style, politeness, discourse markers, etc.
 How would you translate “¿Cómo estás tú?” vs.
¿Cómo está usted?”
 What other words or phrases are difficult or
impossible to translate from your LS to English?

23. Children’s book
 Soy chiquita, soy bonita.
Soy la perla de mama.
 Si me ensucio el vestido,
garrotazos me dará
 I am small, I am pretty
 I’m my mother’s pearl
 If I get my dress all dirty
 She will beat me

24. For Monday
 Chapter 14 – pp. 449 - 465
 Reading Questions