230122 Language Contact and Contact Languages (S) (WiSe 2019/2020)

When we study the English language, we are confronted with the results of language contact from the Old English period and the arrival of Germanic tribes in the British Isles onwards to the present-day varieties of English around the world, including new contact languages such as English-based Pidgins and Creoles. In this class, we will look at language contact and its results in the past and more recent history of English, taking into account findings from historical linguistics, dialectology, language typology and sociolinguistics. Topics included are: Celtic and Scandinavian influences on Old and Middle English, the emergence of the ‘New Englishes’ and English-based Pidgins and Creoles, and the linguistic status of so-called mixed languages such as ‘Sheng’ or ‘Taglish’. But we will also discuss the influence of English on European languages, most notably German and the existence of Anglicisms.